Blessings from Evil
by proudtobeamerican18
Summary: Within the midst of every tragedy, there is always a blessing to be had. There is always at least that one thing, no matter how small, that makes all of the pain and suffering worth it. Then, sometimes...one may gain blessings so dear to them that would not have stood a chance to gain should they not have suffered. Jack/Sue. Finally re-uploaded.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so…publishing this one again! I'm so sorry that it took longer than I said that it would, but Midterm Week creeped up on me. Hope that everyone enjoys it and so sorry for that little spat during which it disappeared. I don't know exactly when it was deleted, but apparently it was a few months ago. The saddest part was that my lovely reviews disappeared. :( But maybe some new readers (or old, I'm not prejudiced ) might leave me some? *Cough*Cough*  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Hudson, Demetrius Ganns, Myles Leland, Bobby Manning, Tara Williams, Lucy Dotson, or Sue Thomas. They belong to Paxson and Pebblehut. If I did own them, I would have given the world a little more closure in respects to Jack and Sue! :)**

J. Edgar Hoover Building-9:02 p.m.

"Where is Susan Thomas?" Jack shouted, throwing the file in his hand against the wall of the interrogation room, unable to control his anger and desperation any longer.

He vaguely heard Demetrius say his name lowly to remind him to keep himself in check, but the sick chuckling of the man sitting at the table drowned out any rationality. Moving to stand on the other side of the metal table across from the felon, Jack leaned forward, clenching either sides of the table to keep him from striking out at the man.

"I will not tell you where she is," the man stated simply, an evil grin coming over his face. "But I can tell you what they're doing to her...what I, myself, have done to her. It's easy to make use of a woman when they're tied and defenseless...it's the only thing they're good for anyway. And believe me when I tell you, your friend Ms. Thomas was very fun to play with...no matter how much she struggled and begged."

Jack felt his blood boiling in his veins as D moved behind him and squeezed his shoulder in careful restraint. The desire to hurt this man...to kill him was overwhelming. He strove desperately to hold himself back, his knuckles turning white around the edges of the table.

"There was also a name that she kept mumbling," the man continued in a confidential whisper, leaning forward onto his elbows and interlacing his fingers. "A 'Jack'...she wanted him to help her. What is your name, Agent Hudson?"

Something snapped within Jack and he could hold himself back no longer. He leapt forward suddenly and pulled the man to him by the collar, his other arm rearing back to strike. But D's reaction was too quick as he grabbed Jack around the torso and struggled to pull him back. Fighting for his release, Jack could hardly think of anything other than the desire to kill him for hurting Sue, his Sue. Another security guard came forward to restrain him as he saw two other guards handcuffing Martinez and forcing him back into his chair.

"Jack!" Demetrius bellowed, finally calling Jack back from his blind anger after dragging him out into the empty hallway. He gained Jack's attention and continued in a low and understanding voice when he saw Jack calm a small degree. "You aren't helping Sue this way. She needs our help now, more than ever, because now we know she's actually in real danger and not just a potentially dangerous situation."

Jack stared back at the older agent, forcing himself to accept the truth of his statement. Concentrating on steadying his breathing to ease the pain in his chest where he knew his heart was, Jack slowly nodded his head and Demetrius released him.

"Let me handle the rest of the interview," Demetrius reasoned, then forced a grudging smile as he continued. "You and I both know that it would do no one any good for you to be taken off this case. We're just lucky that the provocation is evident and the powers-that-be are at the ends of their ropes; everyone wants Sue found, Jack. We're here with you."

Jack nodded his head reluctantly and followed Demetrius back into the interrogation room, leaning against the wall next to the door and forcing himself to remain strong as he watched the smug look on Martinez's face...he had to be, for Sue, no matter how hard it was for him.

"Now listen closely," D began, standing next to Martinez's chair and lowering his face threateningly to only a few inches away from his. "If you cooperate with us, we could probably convince the Attorney General to deal...but if you don't, we have enough on you to send you away for life. And if you don't claim any accomplices, thinking that your 'friends' will get you out of this, it'll all be pinned on you. So what's it gonna be? Either way, you lose; why not make it the way were you go out with a little more dignity and pride left? Because I happen to know that the capital punishment is often the consequence of these kinds of offences...especially when a federal agent is the victim."

Martinez was silent for several long and agonizing moments and Jack could feel his palms starting to sweat again as he clenched them agitatedly. Finally the man raised his head, a reply to D on his lips but the black abyss of his eyes was focused solely on Jack's angry brown ones.

"She'll most likely be dead by the time you get there," he began, his sick smile returning. "My boss was particularly fond of her and decided after me and a few other guys were done that he would save her for himself. And he always has enjoyed a good woman, no matter how much they protest."

Jack quickly grasped the door handle behind his back as tightly as he could in attempt to hold himself back. Seeing the danger of him remaining in the room any longer, Jack turned on his heel and pulled the door open.

"787 Pinewood Ridge Road...forty-five minutes out of the city," Martinez suddenly said, just before Jack closed the door behind him. His entire body stiffened as the information he had been seeking for the past three weeks met his ears, though he felt as though he were shaking with anger and fear for Sue. But the man continued, "You're name is Jack...isn't it, Agent Hudson? Too bad you will never get from little Miss Susan what we just decided to take...you are missing out on very much."

Jack slammed the door behind him and strode down the hallway in the direction of the bullpen.

"We have a location!" he shouted and bullpen was immediately thrown into a state of critical action.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Hudson, Demetrius Ganns, Myles Leland, Bobby Manny, Tara Williams, Lucy Dotson, or Sue Thomas. They belong to Paxson and Pebblehut. If I did own them, I would have given the world a little more closure in respects to Jack and Sue! :)**

787 Pinewood Ridge Road-10:17 p.m.

The dark SUV pulled to a stop with a gentle lurch and Jack grabbed his AK-47 as Bobby threw it into park. Maintaining the silence that was mandatory to keep the element of surprise in their court, Jack opened the door quietly and did not shut it all the way.

He was vaguely aware of the hurried movements of those around them; they were the same orders of protocol that had been driven into their heads since the very beginning. But the sick feeling in Jack's stomach made remembering these steps difficult as he tried to force himself to concentrate. But the terror of what he would find enveloped him as he checked the security straps on his metal-plated vest.

Looking up at the old 20's farmhouse, Jack pulled back the firm determination from the place where it had been hiding within him. He was not sure what condition they would find Sue in, but no matter what, Jack wanted her with them and safe and not in the hands of her torturers.

"Sam 3-7," came D's voice over the radio and Jack pulled his attention from the dark house to look at his teammate just a yard away from him. "Prepare to penetrate."

Jack nodded his understanding, holding Demetrius's gaze momentarily and gaining a little more confidence from the agent that stood over them all like a caring father. He broke his gaze away and looked to observe the rest of his team and the other men they brought from SWAT. Bobby gave him a friendly thumbs up and Myles nodded his assurance that he too was ready.

"Sam 3-8," Jack said into his radio and looked back to D; he could not take the lead in this bust and would not get any of his men killed by trying to act as though he could. "Slight change of plan, you take the lead and I'll follow you. Everything else remains according to plan."

Everyone nodded their understanding in the new line-up and Jack clicked off the safety on his firearm. He heard D give the order to take positions and Jack followed him up to the front door on the porch, positioning himself to the side of the doorframe as D did on the other side.

"3...2...1...Engage!" D's voice commanded over the radio and Jack jumped into action, his agent mode taking over.

The old wooden door went crashing down at his first kick and they rushed into the house as several men were startled from their sleep and began hurrying in every direction. Jack shouted the traditional "Freeze, F.B.I.", as did D and the other men from their team as they surrounded them. Every one of them dropped to their knees immediately, putting their hands behind their heads as they were ordered to.

"Sam 1-7, Sam 2-8, and Sam 4-2," Demetrius ordered after assuring that the captives were completely unarmed. "Stand guard. Team 3, take the basement. Team 1, take the first floor. We'll take the second floor and attic."

Jack nodded and followed D up the staircase as the other teams dispersed to search the house. They made every turn warily, their training and experience moving them forward in the appropriate manner without a thought. Jack's eyes searched every inch of every room that he passed down the hallway. He found an old closet, a bedroom, and a bathroom, but all were deserted.

"Sam 3-8," he asked over the radio, his heart sinking into the bottom of his stomach as the nausea returned. "Have you found anything?"

"Negative, Sam 3-7," D replied, returning to meet him in the hallway from another bedroom.

Jack turned back in painful defeat as he heard D asking for a report from the others and a chorus of negatives met his ears. He was about to follow D back down the staircase when a small sound stopped him in his tracks and everything in him seemed to freeze. Stepping back from the staircase, Jack scanned the hallway with his flashlight and trained it on a small door at the hardwood floor at the end of the hallway that he had not seen before.

"Sam 3-8, wait," Jack said suddenly before moving, his voice harsh with tension.

D returned to his side and Jack pointed, never taking his eyes off the door. He knew it was just an old laundry chute, they had had one in his childhood home, but it was their last hope. D did not reply, but Jack saw him tighten his grip on his gun. Jack stepped forward, taking the lead, praying that his imagination had not been playing tricks on him.

As he drew up only feet away from the door, the same sound met his ears again and D looked over to him with wide eyes. Jack reached the door and pulled out a smaller .44, setting his automatic aside. Subconsciously pressing the safety off, Jack dropped to his knees beside the small portal and reached for the handle. With a swift intake of breath, he yanked the door open, breaking the lock and the thin layer of wood that held it closed, and pointed his .44 and flashlight inside.

A shaking figure lay huddled in the fetal position, her blonde hair falling everywhere. Jack felt as though a boulder had been dropped on him as he quickly handed his gun to Demetrius, who seemed shocked and worried but stood guard. Jack reached his hand to her shoulder but she immediately jerked away, drawing herself into the boarded-up shoot as much as she could.

"Please," he heard her beg, her voice desperate and barely more than a whisper. The carefully annunciated and deliberate speech left Jack in no doubt that it was Sue before them. "Please don't...please, please, don't."

It was like a blow to the stomach as her words reached his ears and Jack knew he would be sick if he did not control himself. He took a steadying breath and reached back into the shoot; gripping her firmly around the arms, Jack pulled her out. She struggled against him and her pleading words poured forth again as she fought him.

She was shaking violently and Jack could feel the weakness in her by the subdued attempts to get away from him. He wanted to tell her that it was him and that he would keep her safe, but he knew that she would not hear him. Pulling her to him, he pinned her against his chest as she struggled against him with what little strength she had left. He could feel the tears of relief and sorrow welling up in his eyes as he held her tightly and securely to him and she seemed to falter a little; he reached a hand to her matted and bloody hair and stroked it soothingly, softly pressing his lips to it.

Realizing that she could not see him but appeared to be calming, Jack reached for her hand that clung tightly about her knees and pried it away. She began to fight him again but he forced her to hold it over his own hand and he began to form letters in sign. She stopped struggling, obviously coming to recognize the movements and concentrating on their meaning.

Relieved that she was trying to read him, he formed the letters over again. IT JACK, SUE. He formed the letters with his fingers, pulling away the hand that held hers over his and moved it to her arm to rub it soothingly, trying to further convey his message. IT JACK. YOU SAFE NOW. I TAKE CARE OF YOU.

She must have understood, because she hesitantly began to raise her head to look at him. Jack was shocked at the initial sight of her face, covered in blood and dark violent bruises and cuts. But her soft green eyes met his and he held her gaze for a moment before he felt her completely relax against him and cling to the cloth of the front of his shirt. Pulling her more tightly to him, tears slipped down his face as he felt her sobbing quietly against his chest.

"Jack...we have to go," D said, startling Jack when he reached down and touched his shoulder; he had forgotten that Demetrius was even there. "SOG just told us that Hernandez is headed north. We have everyone else in custody but we've been ordered to go after the ring-leader. You're going to get Sue to the ambulance...it's waiting about a mile down the main road. It couldn't make it down the dirt road because of all the mud."

Jack nodded his head and received the .44 that D handed back to him. Shoving it into his holster, he saw D turn to leave down the hallway.

"Wait!" Jack said, managing to get his voice a little above a broken whisper, but it was enough to call D's attention and he came back to Jack's side. Jack met the older man's eyes and all emotions inside him could be heard in his voice as he spoke. "Catch him, D. I can't be a part of this case anymore because it's gotten too personal...I'm pulling myself off. But promise me you'll catch the sick bastard that did this to her."

D did not respond but stared back at the fury in Jack's eyes, conveying more than words could ever say. He had a wife and could imagine all too easily how Jack felt; he would not fail his friend and team leader. With a nod, D hurried back down the hallway and through the old farmhouse and out to the SUVs.

"Jack," Sue sobbed quietly, clinging to his shirt and pulling Jack's full attention to her. "Jack...help me...please."

Jack tightened his arm around her bare back and moved his other hand to unfasten the straps of his bulletproof vest. Pulling it off of him, he went to work unbuttoning his work shirt that he had forgotten to change before they left the office, too desperate to get to Sue. He pulled off the shirt and arranged it around her shoulders, helping her pull her arms through the sleeves. She pulled it down over her lower section with weak and shaking hands and Jack buttoned it back up for her. The heavy vest caused her weak shoulders to sag with its weight, but he was taking every precaution he had available to him and he picked up his automatic and pulled it onto his shoulder by the strap.

Wrapping an arm around her legs and another beneath her upper back, Jack pulled her into his arms and stood slowly. She groaned quietly in pain as she rested her head against his shoulder and one arm on her stomach as the other continued to tug the shirt down as far as possible to cover herself.

Jack could feel the anger and rage inside of him, battling the relief and concern for Sue as he stepped down the stairs carefully, not wanting to jostle her around too much. But his worry for Sue soon won out and he forced himself to calm the desire to hit something and he stepped out of the old house, now empty of agents and their prisoners. When he stepped out into the yard, he saw the dark outline of the SUV that had been left for them and crossed the yard to it.

Opening the passenger side door, he gently set Sue in the seat; but despite his carefulness, he heard her give a sharp gasp of pain and she winced when he moved her legs to what he thought would be a more comfortable position. Looking down, he pulled out his flashlight to assess her physical condition. The light exposed several serious injuries that he had never considered in the darkness of the hallway. Every inch that he could see of her flesh was completely covered in blood and dark bruises; he could see several cuts about her face where she'd been beaten and, on closer observation, her right arm and left leg appeared to be broken.

Swallowing down the anger that rose up in him again, Jack fastened the seatbelt around her and shut the door of the vehicle after checking to make sure that she was supported enough to sit up. Quickly rounding to the driver's side, he jumped in and twisted the key in the ignition, throwing the heater on full force when he saw that she was still shivering. He pulled off the thick gloves before reaching a hand over to her forehead and softly feeling her temperature, worried but not surprised that she was running a high fever.

He adjusted the vents to point at her and pulled a spare jacket labeled "F.B.I." from the back seat to tuck around her legs. He heard her groan softly, her face drawn up in pain, and she pulled her broken arm into her lap with her other.

Jack's mind returned to the ambulance that D had spoken of and he pushed the gearshift into drive. It was a difficult task to drive down the muddy dirt road quickly, while avoiding the many potholes and mounds of mud to keep from shaking her up too much. He could sense her pain every time the SUV dipped even the slightest bit and his concern grew. They finally made it to the paved road and Jack breathed a sigh of relief when the violent jolting and lurching stopped.

"Ok, Sue," he said, knowing that she could not hear him but reaching for her good hand. "We're almost there."

He felt her fingers close around his and saw her struggling to open her eyes. Her body began to lean when she grew too weary to hold herself upright any longer and Jack pushed the arm rest back, making another seat in between theirs. She finally seemed to give in to the call of rest and laid her head onto Jack's lap, her hand still enclosed in his.

"Jack," he heard her breathe softly against his upper leg. "Thank you, Jack...thanks you."

Soft sobs shook her once more and Jack stroked her hair soothingly as the bright red lights of the ambulance came into view.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jack Hudson, Demetrius Ganns, Myles Leland, Bobby Manny, Tara Williams, Lucy Dotson, or Sue Thomas. They belong to Paxson and Pebblehut. If I did own them, I would have given the world a little more closure in respects to Jack and Sue! :)**

One Week Later:

Jack swiftly stood from his position on the unconventional polyester chair when he saw her eyes attempting to open. The machine beeped on maddeningly as he drew up to the bedside and took Sue's hand in his. Giving it a soft squeeze, he tried to encourage her to return to consciousness. Her eyes opened slowly but surely and took on a confused expression as they met his.

"Sue?" Jack asked gently, brushing her knuckles with his thumb and signing along with his other hand, almost if by habit.

The lost expression left her eyes as they began to tear over and her lips quivered softly. Jack reached a hand to her face and wiped away the tears, leaning down to pull her gently to him. He felt her hand eventually slip from his grasp and wrap around his neck as she sobbed desperately against his shoulder.

"Thank you, Jack," he heard her shaking voice say quietly and he felt his heart breaking for her. "Thank you...so much, Jack. I'm so sorry."

Jack pulled away slowly, tenderly taking her face into both his hands, demanding her attention. Her tear-filled eyes met his own damp ones and she pulled her good hand to rest on his at her jawbone.

"Sue...you have _nothing_ to apologize for," Jack said firmly, wiping away more tears as they rolled down her cheeks and met his fingertips. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you. I'm so...Sue...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry..."

His voice choked within his throat and his own tears poured forth. He felt ashamed of himself; Sue needed him to be strong for her, to be there as a shoulder to cry on. Yet here he was, breaking down at the mere thought of the horrible things that Sue had endured and managed to survive where many would not have.

He tried to regain control of himself, but could not seem to get a grip. Turning away from the bed, searching for composure, Jack felt a small touch on his arm. Looking back to Sue, he saw her hand extended towards him as she cried softly, as well. He received her hand thankfully and she weakly pulled him towards her. He allowed himself to bury his face into her slim shoulder and hold her close to him as her tears moistened his shirt. He stroked her hair with his fingers, desperate to try and comfort her, even in his state and his other arm circled around her lower back.

A loud rap on the door pulled Jack's attention away and he carefully withdrew himself from her grasp. Seeing her questioning expression, he signed DOOR and brusquely brushed the tears from his own eyes. He handed her a tissue from the bedside table and tried to compose his face before calling his permission for the unknown visitor to enter.

"Well, good morning, Ms. Thomas," said the doctor with a forcibly cheery voice and he closed the door behind him. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Not well," she said, her voice barely audible.

"Well, we're going to put you on some pain medications in just a little while," the doctor continued, his voice taking on the more professional manner when Jack gave him a warning look against treating Sue as though she were incompetent. "We didn't want to while you were still unconscious but I think it should be safe now."

Sue nodded gently and Jack moved to her side, taking her hand in his. He tenderly wrapped one arm around her waist and adjusted her pillows with the other, shifting her into a sitting position after seeing her try and fail to do it herself. She gave him a small but appreciative smile before her attention was caught by the doctor, once again.

"We have also taken the standard tests for these kinds of situations and we have the results," the young doctor stated, casting an uncertain glance at Jack.

Catching the doctor's meaning, Jack reluctantly began to move away to leave but Sue's hand tightened around his, halting his retreat.

"Please, stay," she requested softly, tears threatening in her eyes again.

Jack felt himself melt and he moved back to his position at her side, his hands wrapping around hers while avoiding the heart rate censor around her pointer-finger.

"Ok," the doctor said slowly, taking this as his permission to continue with Jack present. "As I said...we've ran a number of tests to check for any damage done from your...um...your rapes."

Jack felt Sue uncomfortably shift a little at the word, but her face remained trained on the doctor and her expression was unreadable.

"As it turns out, Ms. Thomas, you're actually a very lucky woman," he continued, flipping through the charts in his hand. "All tests for sexually transmitted diseases came out negative and we tested for those three times to be certain."

Jack heard her give a small sigh of relief but it caught in her throat as the doctor continued.

"However," he said, his nervous smile fading from his face. "Your pregnancy test...it came out positive. We tested twice and it seems that you are about three weeks pregnant. Everything looks good and the baby seems to be healthy despite everything and..."

"Thank you, doctor," Jack said firmly, bringing the doctor's babbling to a halt. "Now may we please have a little while?"

The doctor left without an argument and Jack turned his attention back to Sue when the door closed behind the nervous physician. Her eyes where closed tightly against the world and she seemed to be biting back the tears with her bottom lip. Jack did not know what to say; what could you say to something like this. Deciding that words were not important right now, he leaned back down to her and pulled her to him.

She wrapped her arm around him desperately as the sobs came forth unchecked. Her hand clung to him and something inside of him knew that she was begging him not to leave her. Lifting her very gently to avoid hurting her any further, he laid her back down a few inches over. Kicking his shoes off with his toes, he pulled himself onto the bed beside her and rested on his side, facing her. She did not protest, but buried her face into his chest as his hand gently stroked her back through the thin hospital gown.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters used except those that are unrecognizable from the show, no matter how much I wish I did! :(**

**And I wanted to thank KJcupcake2nd, fanka77, and jimmel for your kind and encouraging reviews! :) They let me know that I'm writing a story worth reading! **

**Ok, this is my third attempt to start this thing. I've been working but unsatisfied so I'm sorry I've taken so long. WARNING: From here on out there will be some thematic elements, but not explicit. I'm in clinicals for nursing right now and situations like Sue's in this story can be very challenging and sad. Please just take into consideration that the rating is appropriate in my judgment and I only include these thematic elements for the sake of my purpose for the story.**

Sue's Apartment: Four Days Later

Jack stirred from his position on the couch, trying to find a more comfortable position to fall back asleep in. However, the noise which he had not realized had woken him sounded again and he bolted up.

Closing his eyes tightly against the darkness and then opening them again in attempt to focus in the dark, it took Jack only a moment to recall where he was.

"Oh, God, Sue," he exclaimed, growing worried when he heard her agonized moans of pain again and he stumble in his rush to stand from the couch.

He moved as quickly and efficiently as possible down the hallway without running into anything in the dark until he reach Sue's bedroom door. Twisting the knob, he threw the door open without a thought and hurried into the room.

"Sue?" he asked, more to himself when he did not see her on the bed but still heard her nearby. He rounded the room in search and found her lying on the floor, her broken leg stretched out before her as she cradled her broken arm that had fallen out of its sling.

Worry overtook every fiber of his being and Jack dove forward immediately to her side. Before she even had the opportunity to register his presence, Jack was already lifting her carefully into his arms.

"No, Jack," Sue gasped in between gulping tears. "No, please don't...I'm sorry. Please, let me clean it. Please..."

Not understanding the meaning of her implorements, Jack gently laid her down in the bed and positioned several pillows to support her before switching on a light and looking back to the floor. In the orange glow of the lamp, he discovered a large area of discoloration and realized that Sue had become sick in the night. As the initial thought morphed into others, it dawned on Jack that Sue had fallen as well and he turned to find that her clothes and hair were also discolored.

"Please, Jack...I didn't mean to wake you," Sue was still crying when Jack reached back down for her and she pulled away as much as her physical condition would allow her. "I'm so sorry. Please...I can do it. Please, let me...you go back to sleep."

Jack took Sue's hand that was clenching the side of the bed for dear life and squeezed it comfortingly before lifting her gently back into his arms and directing his steps back towards the hallway.

"Come on, Sue," Jack whispered soothingly, more for his own benefit. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Pushing the bathroom door open with his foot, Jack flipped the light switch with his elbow and propped Sue up on the toilet lid. He ignored her sad protests, knowing that she was under the effects of the pain medication, but it still hurt his heart to see her in such a manner.

Pulling back the shower curtain, he adjusted the knobs on the tub for an appropriate medium in water heat. Noticing that Sue had grown silent, he turned back and found her looking down at him kneeled in front of her, her face drawn up in sorrow.

I SORRY. Sue signed, obviously struggling to hold back the tears.

Jack turned on the balls of his feet until he was facing her and rested his hands on her knees. THERE NOTHING TO BE SORRY FOR, he assured her.

Standing to his feet, he carefully pulled at her nightgown until he managed to get it over her head without jarring her arm or rubbing against one of the blotchy bruises or cuts. Sue attempted to remove the undergarments, but Jack placed a soft hand on her shoulder to halt her obviously painful attempts and finished for her.

After settling Sue down into the water and propping her arm and leg casts a safe distance from moisture, Jack had Sue cleaned and her hair washed in short order. Aware of her extreme discomfort, he kept his eyes trained on hers and talked to her whenever she managed to look at his lips.

Pulling the plug from the drain, Jack allowed all the water to disappear before turning the water back on and rinsing Sue off with the clean fresh water.

SUE, he signed, replacing the stopper to fill the tub up again with warm water. YOU STAY. I GO CLEAN. YOU CALL IF NEED ANYTHING. I LEAVE LEVI AND DOOR OPEN.

Sue nodded her understanding and took a deep and ragged breath. Still concerned but knowing that she would be more relaxed this way than any other, Jack pulled the shower curtain to give her privacy and retrieved her soiled clothes off of the floor before departing for the bedroom and dropping them in the laundry basket.

It was not until he returned to the bedroom from the kitchen with cleaning products and a scrub brush that Jack realized that his clothes were soiled too. Pulling his tee shirt and pajama bottoms off, he tossed them in the hamper and set to work on the carpet. After cleaning the floor, he stripped the bed and carried the bed clothes and hamper to the laundry room to have everything cleaned by morning.

As he started the load in the washing machine, he could not help the wandering of his mind. It hurt so badly to see Sue in such a state; he could not imagine how she must feel herself. The look of sheer embarrassment and shame in her eyes hurt almost worse than the tears had and Jack wished that he could find a way to let her know that he truly did not care about the vomit or the bath at three in the morning. He wished that he could find a way to let her know that he only wanted to help her get back to a safe place within herself and help her to realize how much he cared about her and really wanted to be there to take care of her.

Pulling himself away from his musings, Jack closed the machine lid and hit the start button. He returned to the bathroom to find Sue lying in the water exactly as he had left her and he carefully lifted her again, settling her back onto the toilet seat and helping her to dry and dress before returning her to her bed with the strict orders to let him know if she needed anything else.

Taking the blanket and pillows from the sofa in the living room, he returned to Sue's room and made a pallet on the floor beside her so that he could be close at hand. When he was certain that Sue had fallen asleep, as restless as it was, Jack rolled over and drifted off to enjoy the few short hours of sleep that he would be able to get before having to wake up for work.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Pax and Pebblehut own Sue Thomas F. and all character recognizable from the television show. I own nothing but the story line and I hope you enjoy it and, again, please let me know what you think and if there are any changes, large or small, that you would want me to consider. Thank you! **

"Jack," a quiet voice seemed to drift into his unconscious oblivion from a great distance away. "Jack...wake up."

The warm sensations of a gentle hand sweeping over his brow aroused him slightly and he leaned into the warm softness. The fogginess of his mind began to clear as more alert thoughts and ideas took over and turned directly to Sue. As the idea took precedence, a natural sense of concern startled him from all rest and he quickly sat up on his elbow.

His sudden movements seemed to surprise Sue and her hand jerked away quickly, but her eyes remained focused on his as Jack sat up more fully on the floor at a little slower of a pace. Raking his fingers through his hair, he tried to be discrete while observing her.

"Don't worry, Jack," Sue continued slowly. "I was just waking you because it's nine o'clock. I hope you don't mind...but I turned off the alarm clock...I thought that you could use a little extra sleep...since I had you up for hours last night."

"It's ok, I'll just call and let D and Bobby know that I'll be a bit late," Jack replied with a yawn, rubbing the last remaining remnants of tiredness from his face, actually grateful for Sue's intervention but not wanting her worrying about anything. "But we really weren't up that long...maybe an hour."

Looking up at Sue for her reply, he witnessed, for only a fleeting second, the faint traces of the first real smile gracing her lips that he had seen since before her abduction. "I'm deaf, Jack...but you don't have to be able to hear to know when someone is lying awake, watching every move you make until you fall asleep."

A flush of embarrassment fell over him and he could only imagine the wide-eyed expression on his face; he had not the smallest clue that Sue had been aware of him last night. Even though he knew within himself that he was only trying to keep an eye out for her, he still felt as though he had been caught again at one of his subconscious observations as he knew she had caught him at so many times in the office and out.

"Thank you," Sue signed and said at the same time, alleviating Jack's mind with another brief, but true, smile.

Jack stood to his feet and began folding up the blanket that he had used and placed it on top of his pillow at the foot of her bed. He could feel her gaze on him as he began straightening her own bedspread and smoothing out the wrinkles but said nothing. He knew that he should be happy and optimistic that the day had begun far better than he had expected it to, but he still felt extremely uneasy. Perhaps he was just overthinking this...maybe her kidnapping and present situation were having just as much of an effect on him as it was having on her; whatever the case, he tried to shake himself of the thoughts and concentrate on taking care of Sue in every way that she needed.

He crossed over to the chest of drawers against the wall and opened several drawers, finding a clean set of undergarments and what he thought looked as though it would be a comfortable outfit for her to wear throughout the day. Holding them up for her approval, he received a nonchalant nod and tucked the clothing beneath his arm.

"Come on now," Jack said with a half-hearted smile, already situating his arms behind her back and beneath her knees. "You must need to use the bathroom."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything Pax and Pebblehut! I swear that I'm not trying to infringe on your property...I just wanted to play on it for a little while and I promise not to mess anything up. Thank you!**

A loud knock resounded throughout the apartment and Jack dried his hands on the dish towel and dropped it onto the counter. He glanced back into the living room at Sue sitting on the sofa with Levi at her feet before crossing the kitchen to the hallway.

"Hey, Darcy," Jack said when he opened the front door and found the brunette standing on the threshold, purse and some other bag in hand. "Come in."

"Thank you, Agent Hudson," she replied with a concerned but kind expression. "How is she doing? Bobby told me what happened...well, at least what he knows."

"She doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, I guess," Jack answered, eyeing the black leather bag that hung from her shoulder when a new and somewhat irrational worry entered his mind. "Umm...you don't...plan on...?"

"What?" Darcy asked, her brow furrowing in confusion and she looked down at the bag to try and understand him. "Oh, of course not! Come on, Jack. I'm a reporter, not an exploiter...well, not of my friends, at least. These are just a few things that I thought may help distract her or help make her a little more comfortable."

Jack nodded with mild relief, unsure why he was being so suspicious in the first place; he had to calm his nerves down or he would have another heart attack. He lead the way into the kitchen and through to the living room. He waved his hand to gain Sue's attention from the apparently very interesting spot on the floor.

DARCY HERE. He informed her when she looked up at him and he sat down next to her on the loveseat. YOU SURE YOU OK?

Sue nodded. I OK. YOU NO WORRY.

Jack could have almost laughed at the improbableness of her request, but decided that it would be best not to inform her that that was like asking water not to be wet or telling the wind not to blow. With a brief grasp of her hand, he stood and straightened his tie, knowing that it was probably crooked and badly tied but not caring.

I HAVE CELL. He signed as his last reminder, feeling uncharacteristically worried about leaving her even though he knew that she was in good hands. CALL IF NEED HELP.

Sue nodded again and tried for another smile, but he could tell that it was another forced one and not the genuine ghosts of one that he had seen a few hours ago. Returning to the kitchen, he found Darcy standing by the sink.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her," she said before he even opened his mouth. "I have Bobby's number if I need to get in touch with you."

"Ok...and Sue has mine, as well," Jack continued, wracking his brains for anything that she may need to know. "Uh...the doctor gave her pain medication for when things get really bad; it's in the bathroom cabinet and the dosage is on the bottle. And she isn't really holding things down very well, so you should probably just make her eat something light...I just fed her some oatmeal; you may need to help feed her if it's anything but finger-foods, she was having some trouble with the spoon. And..."

"Jack, it'll be ok, I promise," Darcy interrupted him, her tone understanding and her eyes softened with some kind of sympathy and concern. "Go on to work. I'll be here as long as she needs me to be. I have a little more than four weeks of Paid Time Off built up and I went ahead and told my editor that I would be working away from the office."

"Ok," Jack agreed, grabbing his coat from over a chair and pulling it on. He started to head for the door but turned with one last afterthought. "Just one more thing...I may have already told you, but she needs help going to the restroom and things, so..."

"Go to work, Jack," Darcy stopped him again with a patient nod. Then, reaching for her bag, he saw her scramble things around for a moment before extracting a thick book. She held it up for him to see the title, which read _Signs and Signing for Beginners: A Complete Course in American Sign Language_. "I've got it covered...I doubt she'll mind helping me with this, but even if she does we'll be fine."

Jack nodded, feeling a little more confident and finally made his departure. He had to force himself to keep his mind from reeling between worries and fears on his way to his car. Checking his watch, he began to mentally check off the number of hours before he would be getting off...Lord willing nothing drastic happened through the course of the day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, etc.. **

**Oh my goodness! I had this chapter finished but my computer did something strange and shut off without saving any more than the first few paragraphs! Ughh...I was happy with the original one but I'll do my best to repeat what I had. And on a better note...thanks for the very nice reviews!**

As Jack stepped into the bullpen, a comforting sense of familiarity met him. However, he soon realized that the silent hustle and bustle of the team could not be a good sign by any means. Even Lucy, whom he had expected to be the first to accost him with an infantry of questions and demands, barely acknowledged his arrival and kept typing away at her keyboard in a hurried frenzy.

Moving to hang his jacket on the hook and take his seat, he observed his fellow team members, wondering what on earth could have thrown them into such a state tense hurriedness. Tara was squeezing the life out of one of her many assortments of stress balls with her eyes glued to her computer screen. Bobby was on the phone, feet away, shouting at some poor unfortunate soul on the other end for, what Jack could gather from the one-sided conversation, not having a piece of information. Myles was buried in the corner with the filing cabinets, making a mess of things in his search for a specific file. But D...Demetrius was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Jack asked Bobby once he had slammed the receiver back onto its cups and was releasing a long stream of violent curses under his breath.

"That blasted drongo, Hernandez!" Bobby exploded, slamming his fist down onto the table. "What else?"

"What do you mean 'Hernandez'?" Jack demanded, ignoring the curious stares that Bobby's fit had called in their direction. "You told me yesterday that we had him in custody!"

"That's just it," Demetrius began to explain, making his appearance from behind Jack. "We _had _him in custody. The F.B.I. police were transporting him and two other unrelated suspects to the federal prison just outside D.C. then he was just gone."

"Just gone?" Jack questioned, not believing that he was actually hearing this. The fear and concern that he had only just recently began to tame skyrocketed within his chest. "How is someone 'just gone' when they were locked up inside a secure federal prison van with guards everywhere and no way to escape?"

"That's what we're still trying to figure out," D answered him, choosing his words carefully. He knew his young friend well and if anything would set Jack off into a rage, it would be the knowledge that one of his friends or loved ones was once again in danger. The fact that now it may be Sue, Demetrius knew would make it all that much worse. "The motor of the prison van started smoking and the guards had to evacuate the prisoners. They all said that Hernandez was there one minute and when they turned around the next, he was gone. The strangest part was that the handcuffs that he was wearing were cut. They found them laying on the ground...they must've been rigged because nothing but welding tools could cut those things. We've talked to the guards and we have the other two passengers from the van in the interrogation rooms now but we've only talked to one so far and he's not giving us anything to go on."

"Let me talk to them," Jack insisted, already heading towards the hallway.

"No," Demetrius objected, stopping him with a firm hand on his shoulder. "Jack, that isn't the best idea."

"Listen! If this case is still open then that means that I'm still the lead case agent on this!" Jack said loudly, shrugging D's hand off as the anger inside of him flared up several notches. "If I need to talk witnesses to try and get information out of them, I'm going to!"

"Jack, mate," Bobby began to try and change his mind, but Jack was already continuing on towards the interrogation rooms.

Jack strode past the several offices and conferences room in a blur, not really seeing or acknowledging the people or things that he passed. Though he tried to keep them from it, his thoughts strayed back to Sue's apartment where she and Darcy were now and his fingers itched to dial and call to check on them, but something held him back from reaching for his phone.

"Jack, wait!" he heard a voice call over the heads of the other corridor commuters and he turned in an aggravated huff just in time to see Demetrius and Bobby coming to a halt in front of him.

Jack opened his mouth to further argue his case, but D silenced him with a raised hand. "Just hear us out, ok? You interview them; I'll go in there with you just in case things get a little out of hand and Bobby will watch from behind the window."

"I don't need...," Jack began again but was cut off again.

"Remember last time?" D asked reasonably and Bobby gave him a look that seemed to say 'he has a point'.

Jack did recall his interview with Martinez and finally relented. As they proceeded on their journey, Bobby handed Jack a file on each of the two suspects and Demetrius briefed him as he browsed through them. As they came up on the first room, Bobby entered the door next to it and Jack and Demetrius passed through to the gray room, occupied by one lonely soul.

Jack tapped on the one-way window to signal Bobby to go ahead and start the videotapes and recorders. Glancing up into the corner at a small video camera, he gave it a brief thumb-up before turning to Demetrius for some form of encouragement. He received an assuring nod as D took a seat in the corner of the room and crossed an ankle of a knee to observe.

"You're just wasting your time, man," a voice said and Jack finally looked to the man in an orange jumpsuit seated at the table.

The convict appeared to be the typical would-be hardened criminal. His head was shaved and the majority of his pale arms, neck, and head were covered in tattoos that Jack did not bother to try and distinguish. His stature was small and almost scrawny, giving Jack the direct impression of drug use.

"What is that makes you think that we're wasting our time?" Jack asked evenly, meeting the man's eyes openly. "Mr. Miller...am I correct?"

"Humph!" Miller spat with a large smirk on his face and he leaned forward onto his elbows. "You know my name...even though you don't know me. You got everything you need to make a living right there in those few sheets of paper, don't you?"

"Why do you think we're wasting our time, Mr. Miller?" Jack asked again, forcing his temper to calm. He had to be calm...had to be professional...like it was any other case. "Remember that the day that jury found you guilty at your trial and that judge sentenced you to forty years in prison for countless robberies and several assaults, that all your rights went out the window. Now the only phrase that applies to you is 'everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law'. Choose your words carefully...they're your key to getting a better deal than forty years or making the deal you have even worse."

Miller leaned back in his chair and cocked his chin up, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't know nothing. The guards wouldn't let us talk."

Gritting his teeth, Jack breathed heavily to calm himself enough to ignore the man's insolence. He could feel D's eyes on him from the corner but he refused to return his gaze, not wanted to distract himself from the task at hand. Dropping Miller's file onto the table and taking the seat opposite him, Jack pulled a single photo out and placed it on top. He turned it around to show Miller.

"Do you recognize this man?" Jack queried.

"Yeah," Miller answered flatly, barely looking down at the picture.

"What is his name?" Jack probed further, his tone getting sarcastic as the words slipped from his tongue.

"Anthony Hernandez...at least, that's what he told me." Miller propped one knee up against the edge of the table and balanced his chair on the back legs. "If this is about the chick he raped...don't you think the sentence was a little harsh just for having some fun with the bitch?"

Jack was out of his seat in a second and rounded the table before he even knew what he was doing. Grabbing the back of the chair, he jerked it backwards until it was sitting on all fours and Miller nearly fell to the ground.

"That's strike one," Jack said threateningly, shoving off Demetrius's hand as he felt it take hold of his elbow in silent warning. "This game only has two until you're out. Now...since we know that you and Hernandez clearly talked about stuff, I'm going to give you one more chance to redeem yourself. Take into consideration that if you don't talk, you will be tried _and _convicted of aiding and abetting an escaped convict...if you aren't convicted a second time as an accessory."

"You're crazy, man," Miller said, moving as if to stand from the chair.

"SIT DOWN!" Jack shouted and Miller finally made the smart decision and reclaimed his seat. "Now...what did Hernandez manage to do that got him out of those handcuffs? Before you answer, it is very possible to add, at least, ten years to your sentence if you are uncooperative."

Miller moved closer and rested his elbows on his knees before answering quietly, "What's ten more years to forty? It ain't doing me any good to help you find the only sucker smart enough to break out of federal prison."

Jack glared into Miller's coal black eyes for several seconds, fighting a war inside of himself just to keep from strangling him. With a massive effort, Jack quickly turned away and gathered the files from the table.

"Bobby," Jack spoke towards the black sheet of glass. "He's not getting the deal. Let Judge Carrington know that he's decided to become an accomplice and let me know anything you find out."

Jack then left the room without another word as Demetrius followed him back out into the hallway and the security guards handcuffed Miller and took him away. After several deep breaths, Jack turned back to D.

"You did better than I thought you would; well, up until that last part...," D said as Bobby joined them.

"Little blighter!" Bobby groaned through gritted teeth. "I don't know how you didn't knock his teeth out, mate."

Jack did not reply immediately; his mind had returned to Sue and a new worry struck him. "Promise me something, both of you," Jack requested, noticing the unsure expressions on both of their faces. "Make sure that Sue doesn't find out about this. Things are bad enough for her already and the last thing that she needs is to be worried about him again. She thinks that he's in custody; let's just keep it that way for as long as we can."

The uncertain expressions on his two friends' faces turned to worry, but they agreed with a great deal of reluctance. Even Jack knew that they would do anything that they thought was good for Sue, even if she would resent them for it if she knew about it.

"Thanks," Jack said sincerely before turning to pass through to the second door for his last-chance interrogation.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the characters that are unrecognizable from the show. Pax and Pebblehut own all the good characters...all I can claim are the bad guys! Ughhh... :(**

For a second time that day, Jack strode into the room, followed closely by Demetrius, and rapped on the blackened window. He twirled his finger around in a circle as a sign to start before turning his scrutiny to another man sitting at another table bolted to the floor in another gray, barred-windowed room.

This man could not have been more different from the one they had just seen and Jack almost reread the file of his charges. His blonde hair was neatly trimmed and combed and his face held and expression of calm curiosity. The orange jumper suit made him look like a character from a poorly made and badly directed movie. He returned Jack's stare with mild blue eyes and seemed to be waiting for him.

"John Thompson?" Jack asked, regarding his file again. "Charged with first degree murder and sentenced to capital punishment on the third of next month?"

"That is correct," Thompson answered politely, folding his hands as if he were preparing for a nice visit with an old acquaintance.

"Ok," Jack went on, slightly confused at Thompson's manners while he was awaiting his untimely death for murder. "I want to get right to the point because time is of the essence and the lives of a young woman and her unborn child may be in danger. You no longer have the rights that you previously possessed before your conviction and you can only make your circumstances worse by playing games."

"I don't really see how my circumstances can get any worse," Thompson said with a light laugh and Jack determined that he could not possibly be any more than twenty-five years old. "However, I'm offering to fully cooperate and help you in any way I can. How is the woman in danger?"

"Do you recognize this man?" Jack asked, instead, handing him the photo of their perpetrator.

"Yes, his name is Anthony Hernandez," Thompson answered without hesitation. "He's the man that escaped from our transport van. Is that what this is all about?"

"That's exactly what this is all about," Jack agreed, unable to help the small sense of optimism he felt when D make the sign for OK and nodded his head.

"What can you tell us about his escape?" Jack continued, pulling out a clean sheet of paper and a pen, preparing to take notes on whatever information he could get.

"Not much...I didn't talk to him at all; I just heard him and that Miller guy talking a lot," Thompson explained, and then a strange look darkened his expression, one that spoke volumes of sickened hatred. "He kept bragging to Miller about how he raped this police woman and he and his buddies had beaten her really bad. He kept going on about how he had friends in all sort of places and no one had ever been able to hold him for very long."

Jack said nothing in reply but wrote down everything Thompson had said, almost word for word. Images suddenly started popping into his head of the night he and the team had found Sue in the farmhouse, along with several others from the hospital and her apartment. Jack swallowed back his emotions and finished his notes, determined to get through this calmly and then call Darcy to check on Sue.

"Was she a friend of yours?" Thompson asked, unpleasantly jerking Jack away from his concentration. "The woman?"

"She _is _a friend of mine," Jack corrected, ignoring D's not-so-subtle clearing of his throat from the corner. "She's a good woman and we're going to do whatever it takes to keep anything else from happening to her. Therefore, your full and honest cooperation is greatly appreciated."

Thompson nodded understandingly. "I'm sorry," he said. "About your friend, I mean. But if what you need to know is how he may have escaped and where he would have went to, I would check out all of the guards that were transporting us and he did keep saying that he still had 'unfinished business to look to' and he mentioned the District a lot."

Jack scribbled the information down quickly just as he heard Demetrius leave his chair in the corner and come to stand next to Thompson.

"Let me ask you something, now," D began and Jack could tell that he was somewhat suspicious. "What makes you so willing to help us out and point us in the right direction? What do you stand to gain?"

"The knowledge that I may have helped protect an innocent human being from a terrible fate," Thompson answered evenly, looking Demetrius in the eye steadily. "I have less than a month left to live; what do I really stand to gain or lose other than my pride and integrity? I'd rather go knowing that I did something good rather than die a bitter man."

"And why should we believe the tidings of a murderer?" Demetrius pressed on, trying to find any small glitch or reaction that would help them know if the information was trustworthy. "You killed a man in cold blood; why would you really care about some woman and a fetus?"

Jack watched on carefully even though he had a gut feeling that Demetrius's traps were unnecessary. Thompson took several deep breaths before answering, looking them both in the eye, in turn.

"You should believe me because I killed that man for what he did," Thompson explained, everything in his face shouting that he was speaking truly and honestly. "I killed him for raping my seventeen years old sister...my little baby sister that would never hurt a fly, that loved to be at home with me and our parents more than anything and had planned on going to college to be a teacher. But all that went down the drain, because now she's pregnant and would never dream of putting a part of her up for adoption."

Jack tapped D's arm and shook his head when he had his attention to stop him from any further drills. He believed Thompson, every word and was now far more interested in following their new-found leads.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and no infringement is intended.**

Jack followed Demetrius and Bobby into the bullpen at a much slower pace, still messing with his cell phone when Lucy met him halfway to his desk. He had expected her to bombard him with a thousand questions and upset accusations, but he had never expected the tight hug that she enveloped him in, all of a sudden.

"How's Sue doing? Is she ok?" Lucy began after a moment, pulling away with tears in her eye and Jack heard Tara stand from her desk and then come into view.

"We haven't heard anything since we were allowed to see her in the hospital," Tara stated, resting a hand on her swollen belly and holding her stomach with the other arm as though she were trying to hold her growing baby. "I wanted to come over, but Stanley said that you told him that wouldn't be a good idea."

"I did," Jack confessed, bracing himself for the onslaught that he knew would be coming from Lucy when her eyes went from tears to anger. "And I told Kevin that, too. Listen, Luce, I know what you're about to say and the truth is that Sue is devastated right now. She's not herself, at all, and she can hardly take my company, let alone seven or more people sympathizing for her."

"But Darcy can be there today?" Lucy inquired accusingly, giving a small sniff as a few more tears fell over her cheeks and she propped her hands on her hips. "Ok, we know that Tara is in no state to be taking care of her, but why did you insist that I couldn't, again? I think that if Darcy can be there to look after her all day her best friend could be there."

"Lucy, that wasn't my doing, that was Sue's," Jack explained, trying to be calm so as to keep Lucy calm, but all he wanted to do was hear Sue speak over the phone. "You've been married for two weeks; Sue said very clearly that she didn't want you taken away from Kevin and Amanda and I wasn't going to upset her any more than she already was."

"But you could continue to come to work, despite her being so unstable?" Lucy questioned angrily. "Why are you even the one taking care of her, in the first place?"

"Lucy," Tara reprimanded softly, taking her arm and Jack could see the immediate regret in Lucy's eyes.

"Jack...I'm sorry," Lucy began, obviously flustered and she began to cry again. "I know..."

"I'm taking care of her because I am the only one even remotely close to her that has no one to go home to each night," Jack answered her questions evenly, but not meeting either one of the women's eyes. "I'm taking care of her because that's what I promised her I would do the night that we found her."

Jack turned on his heel without another word and took his seat behind his desk. Lucy had most definitely struck a nerve and he was not sure if it upset him or angered him the most. He glanced back up to see Tara silently stopping her from following him and Lucy returned to her desk, instead. He watched as Tara reclaimed her own seat with some difficulty and felt a surge of guilt when he saw her wiping away tears of her own.

He knew that he was wrong to get so put out with Lucy, but he felt as though someone had dropped a million worries on his back for him to carry and every question or concerned remark was just adding to his burden. What would Sue think if she knew that he had just managed to upset both of her two best friends? Jack sighed; he need to make things right.

Looking back over to Lucy, he met her eyes that had been on him and tried to smile but knew that it came out more as a grimace. SORRY, he signed, rubbing his fist over his chest in small circles.

IT OK, Lucy replied. I SORRY.

IT OK, Jack replied, as well.

"Jack, mate," Bobby said, pulling Jack's attention away after seeing Lucy and his little exchange and getting the gist of it, though he understood very little sign language.

When he had Jack's attention, he nodded towards the other side of the room. Jack looked in the direction indicated just in time to see Tara snatch a napkin from beside the coffee machine near her desk and rise from her chair. She buried her face into the napkin and departed quickly. Jack rose from his chair, too, and followed her out into the hallway but was stopped from speaking to her when she found sanctuary in the ladies' room.

Jack turned back sadly, feeling even worse than he had that morning when he was leaving Sue. First, Darcy had not answered her phone both times that Jack called and now he had had a spiff with Lucy and caused the mother-to-be Tara to escape to the bathroom to cry. A gentle hand on his shoulder called him from his thoughts and he looked up to see Lucy pat his arm comfortingly before following Tara into the restroom.

"Jack," asked a familiar voice as soon as he returned to the bullpen and he looked up and found Garrett waiting for him by his desk. "My office in five minutes."

Jack nodded his consent and Garrett pushed off of the desk and left the way he had come. Jack turned back to the rest of the room and met the eyes of Bobby, Demetrius, and Myles, all in turn. Demetrius seemed to appear more understanding and said nothing while Bobby and Myles were eyeing him curiously, obviously wanting to interrogate him.

"Sue's not doing well," Jack answered their questions before they had time to ask, but he obviously had their full attention despite the sedated frustration in his voice. "She's in pain, she needs help changing or going to the bathroom, she's devastated from what happened and I think she gets embarrassed when I'm helping her. I wish there was something that any of us could do to make things better for her, but there isn't right now."

Jack swallowed hard and tried to keep the angry and upset tears from escaping his eyes as he looked out the window at the pouring rain that seemed to mirror the turmoil inside of him. Then he finally continued after what seemed like several silent moments. "She hasn't tried to talk about what happened and I'm not going to press her. I'd appreciate it if none of you would try to find a way to do it either."

"We've got to know something, mate," Bobby stated, aggravated.

"Bobby is right," Myles went on, stepping towards Jack. "Sue is our friend just as much as she is yours."

"Hey," Demetrius called, saving Jack from further explanation, his voice almost harsh. "We're all worried about Sue; but Jack is right, we have to wait for Sue to heal in every way that she can in her own time. For right now, let's just focus on helping her by finding Hernandez. We don't know for sure what he's planning or if Sue is even in his plans, but we're going to get him, one way or the other, before we find that out, ok?"

Bobby and Myles nodded their understanding and the last things that Jack heard when he departed for Garrett's office was Bobby calling out an APB and Myles calling to update the media while D called out to Myles to inform them that he was faxing over a recent mug shot photograph of Anthony Hernandez.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything but I would still like to know what you think. Thanks again.**

**By the way, I know that there are a long of Bobby/Tara fans out there; I'm one of them, as well. But for the purpose of this story, I thought it would work better if they were with their initial love interests from the show. Besides, neither Stanley nor Darcy did anything that should make us hate them. I just thought that I should address that before anyone got aggravated. Thanks, yet again.**

Jack slammed the car door behind him, allowing some of the violent emotions to leave his system. Twisting the key in the ignition, he was pulling out of his parking space and then the parking garage before any of the other team members had had time to unlock their vehicles.

As Jack sped through the city, he tried yet another time to call Darcy's cellphone. He silently reprimanded himself for forgetting to put Sue's phone on the charger as he listened to the ringing of Darcy's phone again. When it went to the voicemail, he snapped his phone shut and tossed it into the passenger seat; there was no point in leaving another voice message.

All the tiring events of the day seemed to be enveloping him and overwhelming him as he stopped at red lights and swerved from lane to lane to avoid the slower cars as he drove through the pounding rain. The team was getting aggravated with him for not having any comforting information for them, he was almost sick that Hernandez was now an escaped convict and he could not get in touch with Sue or Darcy, and now he had the words of Garrett running around in his mind.

F.B.I. Issued Home Nurses? Jack would have expected something like this from Randy, but from Garrett? Having to argue with Garrett over something like this was absurd and Jack was fully aware of the fact that he could have lost his job had Garrett not been who he was. The thought still made him angry every time he thought that the F.B.I. wanted him to discontinue caring for Sue, his partner and best friend, because of the no fraternization policy. He had explained to Garrett and the Washington Field Office Director that he was there to care for his friend, nothing else, and that he was not going to leave her even if he was taken off the case or fired. At least a stroke of luck had come his way when Ted Garrett decided to back him up and give his assurance that it was for the best to the Director.

Jack pulled into a parking space in front of Sue's apartment building after what had seemed like forever of driving. Locking his car door and slamming it closed, he looked up through the falling drops of rain at the window just above the entrance that he knew belonged to Sue's apartment. It was lit up brightly and shadows were moving about, casting themselves against the glass.

Jack ran up to the door and entered the code, buzzing himself in. Deciding to take the stairs rather than wait for the elevator, he lunged up the stairs, two at a time, until he reached the second floor and walked quickly towards Sue's door. His mind was running over time with all sorts of possibilities and he pulled out his gun before quietly turning the knob and throwing the door open.

Nothing happened and he continued on inside, his gun by his side but at the ready. When he entered into the kitchen, Darcy turned around from the stove, a little startled. She smiled, initially, but her face fell when she saw Jack holstering his weapon.

"Jack, really," she said, almost angrily. "This is a little ridiculous...a gun?"

"Where's Sue?" Jack asked, ignoring her.

"She's in her bedroom, asleep, finally," Darcy answered him, pulling a saucepan off of the burner and setting it atop a folded hand towel on the counter top. "She did fine, today. We watched TV for a little while, she helped me with my signing book, and I helped her with a bath. I was just warming her up some more chicken and vegetable soup; I made us some earlier."

Jack pulled his gaze from down the darkened hallway where he had been looking into Sue's cracked door. There was the evidence of chopped chicken and vegetables in the garbage can and freshly washed dishes in the drainer beside the sink.

"Why didn't you answer my calls?" Jack asked finally, now satisfied that they were both alright. "I told you that I would be calling to check on her."

"What calls?" Darcy asked, pulling her phone from her pocket with a confused expression. "Oh my...I'm sorry, Jack. My phone has been on silent. Did you call the landline?"

"Yes, about an hour ago. I didn't call Sue's phone because I remembered that it was dead," Jack answered.

"That was probably when we were in the bathroom; I didn't hear it," Darcy explained, shaking her head in self-disappointment. But then she looked up again. "Why were you so worried anyways? I told you that I can take care of her; me not answering the phone is hardly something to pull your gun out for."

Jack met her eyes hesitantly, not sure if he should tell her. But he decided that if Darcy was going to be looking out for Sue during the days that he should probably let her know the situation.

"Anthony Hernandez escaped from the prison van," Jack informed her, pulling off his jacket and setting it in its newly claimed place over one of the kitchen chairs. "We talked to two other prisoners and gathered that he was talking about returning to the District."

"You can't be serious," Darcy gasped, pulling a hand over her mouth. "Sue's going to be terrified."

"No she isn't," Jack returned sharply. "Because we aren't going to tell her. I discussed it with the team and our Supervisor and we've all agreed that it would be best for Sue not to know about it until we're sure that he's after her again or she finds out some other way. You can't say a word about this to her, Darcy."

Darcy was silent but nodded her head to comply. Still without another word, she went to the living room and sat down on the sofa to pull on her boots and get her coat and purse. When she returned to the kitchen, she set the bag of extra items on the table.

"I'm going to leave these things here for tomorrow," she said, a strange look of disbelief still on her face. "You can use anything if you need it and I'll be back at nine in the morning. Unless...Sue calls again and tells me to come later."

Even Jack could not help the small smile that transformed his face from its ominous darkness. He nodded in answer and rose to lock the door behind her when she went.

"Oh, by the way," Jack said as an afterthought when he looked out the window of the apartment hall and saw how dark it was. "Are you going straight home or over to Bobby's?"

"I had to make a stop for some milk and fruit, but then I planned on going home," Darcy answered, her brows furrowing in confusion.

Jack held up a finger to tell her to wait and retreated back into the apartment. When he returned he handed Darcy a brown paper bag with a new quart of milk and a bag of grapes and a couple of apples.

"Go straight home," he said, handing her the package of groceries. "I'm going to call Bobby and let him know that he should be expecting you to call him in about thirty minutes."

"What? Am I back in high school, now?" Darcy asked. "I go home by myself every night."

"Yes, but not every night is there an escaped convict that has people everywhere," Jack argued with her. "I may be being paranoid...but when you have to be right, you're allowed to be. Hernandez knows what he's doing; if he can escape from a heavily guarded prison van he can do just about anything else. Call Bobby when you get home, ok?"

Darcy did not reply but the expression on her face told Jack that he had basically scared the words out of her.

"I don't mean to make you afraid of your own shadow, Darcy," Jack continued, feeling a little guilty but wanting her to understand. "You just need to be aware and look out for things. I hate that now you're in the middle of all of this, but there's nothing we can do to help that now. Besides...I think Bobby would kill me with his bare hands if I didn't at least take precautions when his fiancé was on her way home."

Darcy laughed a little, lightening the mood. "Yes, Bobby probably would kill you. I'll call him when I get home. Thanks for the stuff...I'll see you both in the morning."

Jack nodded and locked the door behind him as he turned back into the apartment and pulled out his phone. He called Bobby and told him to be expecting a call from Darcy within the next thirty minutes or so and then promised Bobby that everything was alright when she left.

"Yeah, don't worry," Jack answered Bobby's protective question. "I told her to go straight home and not stop anywhere...Yeah, she'll be calling you in a bit...Alright, Bobby...Yeah, good night to you too...You're welcome."

Jack flipped his phone shut again and set it on the kitchen counter. Looking into the pot of soup, he thought that, at least, Darcy had gotten Sue to eat something other than crackers and plain oatmeal.

A sharp pain on the back of his leg called Jack's attention to the floor and he spotted Levi, looking up at him as though he were expecting something. Jack looked back into the hallway and saw the faint light streaming from Sue's bedroom.

"Come on, boy," Jack instructed Levi, leading him back towards Sue's room.

"Hey," Jack said and signed when he slowly pushed Sue's door open and saw her sitting a little awkwardly on the mattress. "How are you doing?"

OK, Sue signed back, her expression tired and uncomfortable.

Jack crossed over to the bed and carefully helped her to sit up straight and rearranged her pillows for her. Sitting down on the edge of the bed beside her, Jack once again fixed his scrutiny on her and tried to evaluate her condition without asking. When she caught him at it, Jack changed tactics.

"You hungry?" Jack asked, also making a C with his hand and drawing it down his chest in a straight line.

Sue said nothing but signed, NOT REALLY, after a moment or two.

"Sue," Jack said, taking her hand in his. "You really need to eat something. Darcy heated up more soup before she left."

Sue did not reply, only looked off to the side and Jack was afraid that he was pushing her. But he had to push her, he reasoned with himself. He could understand her not wanting to eat, but she had to. Without another word, he silently left the room and returned a few minutes later with a tray, laden with two bowls of soup and two glasses of iced soda.

"Here," Jack said with a smile, setting the tray on the bedside table. He pulled a cloth from the tray and arranged it over Sue's chest; he had to try and lighten the mood if Sue were going to feel any more comfortable. "We'll have a little picnic. It's still raining outside, so we'll have to settle for in here."

Sue smiled again, this time a little wider and a little longer than that morning. The sight made Jack's heart jump with hopefulness and he dipped a spoon into one of the bowls and moved it to her lips. She received the bite slowly and Jack pulled a straw from the small box and stuck it into her cup. Holding it to her, she took a small sip.

"If I have to eat, then so do you," Sue said after a few minutes of being fed in silence, noticing that Jack had not touched his soup nor drink.

Jack looked up at her in surprise and then eyed his bowl uncertainly. He had not noticed all day how hungry he was. With another look at Sue, he tried to glare at her playfully before taking up his bowl and shoveling in a few bites.

"There," he said, swallowing some of the celery and taking a few quick gulps of soda. "Now it's your turn again."

He almost could not believe it when Sue actually gave a small laugh and received her next bite more willingly. He smiled back at her and wiped some of the broth away from her chin with the cloth.

Just for now, he was going to push every thought of Hernandez from his mind and enjoy witnessing the shadow of Sue's former self. Just for now, he was going to let go of the worries that had surrounded him for the past several weeks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Firstly, I don't own anything, as usual.**

**Secondly, the Capitals beat the Rangers, 3-1! Whoohoo! Umm...I mean, my sincerest condolences to all Ranger fans out there.**

**Well, back to business. I have come to realize that this story is dragging out a little longer than I had planned, but I'm having a lot of fun writing it and I really think that the ending product will be well worth your valuable time reading. **

**I haven't had much feedback, so, please, post even the slightest reviews to let me know that I'm not wasting my time. I'm getting a little discouraged; it may be stupid, but this is my first real fanfic and it's turning into a long one, so I'd like a little response. Thank you all again, so much! Please enjoy...but let me know if you do or don't so that I can get a feel of how to continue! **

**This takes place two month and however many days later...**

Jack paced back and forth in the middle of the waiting room floor, mindlessly pounding a fist against his thigh and finding his other hand unable to be occupied. He watched as several nurses came and went, running to and fro. However, none happened to stop and talk to him about how Sue's x-rays were going. Not that they actually could, of course; as annoying as it was, even he knew that they would not share her medical status with him.

In attempt to distract himself, Jack began to ponder on the past couple of months. He was still living in Sue's apartment with her and helping out when he could. He could tell that she was healing efficiently, but even her physical recovery was not enough to put him at ease in the light of her continued emotional state.

She had begun smiling, even laughing a little from time to time. In Jack's mind, he thought that perhaps she had begun to come to terms with what had happened to her. It was not until she had woken up one night a few weeks ago, screaming, that it had truly struck him. When he had ran into her room and held her until she quieted back down to sleep, he realized that she had not come even close to coping; he realized that she had been putting on a facade the whole time, trying to make those around her happy, yet again.

Nevertheless, the truth had come forth and Jack was reminded of the torment and pain that Sue was suffering. True, she had become more and more able to do for herself as her arm healed and she could maneuver on crutches, or a wheelchair whenever she got tired; but it was the silence, the distant looks into some abyss, unseen to his eyes, that kept him up at night.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hudson."

Jack felt a sharp scratch on his arm and only when he looked down at Levi did he realize that the babbling in the background had been addressed to him. He froze in his pacing and went to the nurse standing in the doorway of the small office.

"Mr. Hudson?" she repeated, holding the door open behind her for him to pass through to the back rooms.

"Yes," Jack answered, following her down a narrow wood-paneled hallway with creaky carpeted floors. "How is Sue doing?"

"She's in the examination room with Dr. Whatley," the nurse deviated, stopping in front of one of the closed doors. "She asked for you."

Jack nodded his head and then filed into the room when the nurse opened up the door for him and jerked her head to the side quickly. Sue was sitting on a paper-covered table, her leg bare of the large bulky cast that it had been in for several weeks.

"Ah...Mr. Hudson," the doctor stepped forward and Jack received his hand with a slight inclination of the head. "It's nice to meet you; I'm Dr. Whatley."

"It's a pleasure," Jack returned, stepping to stand beside Sue at the table and reaching forward to squeeze her hand for a brief moment.

"The doctor said that he wanted to talk to both me and my caretaker," Sue informed him, her voice little more than an audible murmur.

OK, Jack signed and then looked to the doctor expectantly.

"Yes, well, I wanted all involved to be here for all of the information that I'm about to give you," Dr. Whatley concurred, adjusting his glasses on his nose and crossing an ankle over his knee. "Ms. Thomas's broken appendages have healed quite nicely, though you will have some pain, at times. You can continue with your pain medication, but in much smaller dosages...I'm going to write you another prescription..."

"No," Sue objected unexpectedly, making Jack look down at her in surprise. "I have a feeling that such strong pain medicine can't possibly be good for the baby...I don't want anymore. I'll take ibuprofen or something."

Jack thought of trying to reason it out with her, but realized that it would be pointless; he also had to agree that she had a point, even though he had no idea that she would be the one to make it. But he pushed that thought aside; he was still determined not to push her emotions, they could talk about it whenever she brought it up.

"Alllrighty, then," the doctor said with a confused expression but he hid it well. "I'll give you a prescription for pharmacy ibuprofen...absolutely no danger to the fetus, but it will help with the pain, a lot."

"Now, as for the fetus," the doctor continued, taking on a far more serious demeanor. "Dr. Eggerton says that everything looks alright, right now, as far as she can tell. However, she did highly stress that you should start seeing her a little more often than usual pregnancy candidates. Not that anything is wrong, of course; she just wants to keep a close eye on the baby's progression because many times problems arise unexpectedly for ra...I mean...mothers that were not in the greatest health on conceiving."

Sue nodded her head but adverted her eyes to the wall, Jack's gaze on her making her feel awkward and unreasonably exposed.

"Just keep her on her regular diet," the doctor instructed, wrapping things up and Jack helped Sue from the table to stand on the floor after pulling the brace back onto her shin and knee. "No straining yourself and take care that we don't have any more accidents."

"It's ok, Jack," Sue said, gingerly pulling her leg into the car after sitting down with some difficulty. "I've got it."

"Ok," Jack answered and waited until the opening was cleared before shutting her door for her.

When he crawled into the driver's seat and started the ignition, he noticed Sue's silence and looked over at her saddened face as she stared out the window. Thinking it best not to address the subject now, he started the ignition and drove through the city to her apartment in silence.

**Ok, I know that there are a lot of fillers in this story, but that's kind of the point. I'm trying to weave a story about Jack and Sue's relationship into the major story. So please be patient with me! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: No infringement intended...Don't own anything...I mean come on! We all know that I'm not that good to own all these great characters. **

**Also, I want to thank everyone for the reviews...I love getting to know people's opinions. And I'm sorry that I've taken so long to update. My computer was being eaten alive by about 33 horrid viruses...the stupid boogers. It wasn't letting me on Word or WordPad but they're finally gone now. **

**Just to stick with the status quo...please review and critique my work. Constructive criticism is NOT my enemy...it's my teacher. Thanks! **

Jack stepped through the front door, balancing a brown grocery bag in one hand and struggling not to fall over Levi's leash with the other. Kicking the door closed behind him, he relinquished himself of his burden on the kitchen table and stooped down to remove Levi's collar.

"Sue?" he called out of habit, not really expecting an answer.

Stepping through the kitchen and passing into the living room, he found both completely abandoned and silent. A vague and unidentifiable sound came from somewhere down the hall and he followed it, stepping lightly until he found himself at Sue's bedroom door. He gave a quick whistle for Levi and once the golden retriever was at his side, he opened up the door a crack to let him in, not wanting to barge in.

The soft catches of breath and subtle sobs halted and Jack knew that Sue had seen Levi. There were more quiet unintelligible noises as Jack leaned his head in closer against the door. A moment later, without warning, the door was pulled open and he looked up to see Sue looking at him.

Her eyes were red and swollen, wide but expectant.

"Hi," Jack said and signed in unison, trying to remember why he had even intruded on her in the first place.

"I need to talk to you," Sue said directly, though her voice quivered a little with her previous sorrows.

"Alright," Jack said, reaching his hand forward to wipe away a tear that escaped from her eyes and cradling her cheek in his hand. Something was bothering her and he was sure that he knew what; if she needed to talk, he was going to listen. "Let me cook you supper."

"No," Sue objected with a gentle shake of her head. "I'll make supper...I can now."

"I want to keep the baby, Jack," Sue stated suddenly.

The far-too-hot bite of green beans in Jack's mouth scalded him even more when he choked on them. He tried to minimize his disturbance by taking a quick sip of water and then he looked up at Sue. So here they were; he knew that this was going to come up, but that did not make him any more prepared for it.

"Sue," Jack answered after a moment of serious contemplation and stirring his food around on his plate with his fork. "This is a huge responsibility that was forced on you...are you ready for something like that?"

He did not mean to try and force his opinion on her, he was going to support her in whatever decision she made...but he knew Sue's heart and wanted her to see things logically and not just emotionally.

"No," Sue answered and a few tears dropped from her lids and onto the table cloth. "No, I'm not ready...not yet. But I'll never be ready to give up a part of myself to a world that I know is cruel and unkind to people who are even the slightest bit different from most."

Jack listened in silence, reaching across the small kitchen table and covering her hand with his.

"Sue...," Jack began, but was interrupted by her.

"I can't do it, Jack! I can't do it!" Sue cried, pulling her hand away and burying her face in her palms. Her shoulders quaked with her coughing sobs and she choked out the rest of her implorements. "I know what the Bureau policies say about these situations...but I just can't do that to a child. I know what it feels like to be unwanted and unloved...I can't do that to an innocent child...no matter how they came into this world. I'm sorry!"

Jack stood from the table and kneeled down beside Sue's chair, pulling her down towards him until she was crying against his neck. He smoothed her hair and stroked her back calmingly. When her tears subsided a little, he pushed her away so that she would look at him.

"Sue...you have nothing to be sorry for," Jack said, holding her gaze with his. "You are such a good person to feel that way. Never feel that you're doing something bad by making this decision. That baby is yours...no matter the circumstances. With a mother with such a sweet and gentle heart, that baby stands no chance but to be an angel. If you want to keep the baby, then keep it...that's your God-given right and nobody is going to take that from you. Just know...if you keep the baby, I'll be right there for you both, every step of the way."

"Jack...I don't want you to have to shoulder the responsibility," Sue sniffed, looking down at her hands on her knees. "You had no part in this."

"Neither did you," Jack reasoned when she looked back at him. "Either way, I want to."

Sue offered him a shaky smile, but he could tell that it was as sincere as Sue could give. He wanted to see her smile more often; he needed to see her smile more often, for his own sake as well as hers.

"He or she can just call me godfather Sparky," Jack joked lightly and felt a wave of relief when Sue actually laughed through her tears and a real, wide smile passed over her features.

"We could always tell him that story so that he can go to school and tell his friends what his special-agent-godfather did in the Potomac," Sue joked, as well, with another laugh.

"Do you mind if we leave that one out?" Jack asked wryly and Sue gave another small watery laugh. "Let's leave the stories for Uncle Crash's defamation."

He felt a gentle squeeze around his fingers and he looked down to see her hand curling around his. A warm sensation seemed to seep out of his heart and spread through every fiber of his being. But the sensation did not last when he reminded himself of reality; they could not be together without one or another of them losing something that they loved and had brought them together in the first place. He had always dreamed...even hoped...ever since he met her and realized that he loved her that they could one day be together; but the Bureau had its policies and they could not be broken. He loved his job, he loved everything about it...but something inside told him that he loved Sue more. Then a sobering thought struck him for the first time: If he lost one thing for the sake of the other...would his love for the thing he chose be destroyed because of the other loss?

"Jack, there's another thing," Sue's voice called him back from his restless ponderings. "I can't take this sitting here all day and thinking about everything. I...I want to go back to work."

Jack felt himself go cold at this declaration and his mind went racing. How was he supposed to hide Hernandez's escape from her now?


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Don't own it...just covet it.**

**Once again, I put forth my "subtle" pleas for reviews. Thank you all so much.**

"Yeah, Bobby, she's coming in today," Jack answered Bobby's disbelieving question through his cell phone, pulling on his trousers and tucking in his navy blue Oxford shirt. "No...no, I tried to talk to her yesterday but she wouldn't budge."

"What did Garrett say? Doesn't she need his approval before coming back to work?" Bobby asked, his voice still a little loud.

"Yes, but she called him last night after supper and he said that he just wanted to see her in his office when we got there," Jack explained, not entirely sure why he was whispering behind the closed door of Lucy's old room that he had taken over for his own. "Bobby...she can't find out about Hernandez, it's still too hard for her; she hasn't even talked about it, but she still wakes up some nights screaming or crying."

"Poor sheila," Bobby whistled. "I just wonder if coming back now is going to do her more harm than good."

"I don't know, but she's determined," Jack answered, pulling on his suit jacket. "Just...ugghh...have we gotten anywhere on the Hernandez case? It's been more than two months!"

"Yeah...on the gang spectrum, we've gotten pretty far," Bobby replied. "It's just the leader that we can't find anything about. We just can't seem to find out how he got away from the prison van or who may have helped him...nothing that gives us even the smallest clue on where to find him."

"Well, I got John Thompson's execution date pushed back, so we can question him a little more," Jack thought through meticulously. "I may even be able to get him a different sentence...he confessed way too soon. Good young man, just not that bright when it comes to the law. But at least he seems willing to continue helping us."

"About that...Jack, Garrett says that the powers-that-be want us to move on from the Hernandez case," Bobby informed him slowly. "They said that it was running cold and that we 'had bigger fish to fry'. They also said something about you pressing your luck with trying to reverse a judges sentencing in Thompson's case."

"They what?" Jack nearly shouted, dropping the tie he had pulled from the closet to the floor. "How could they...you know what, never mind. We'll talk about this when we get there. Just, please, warn everyone that Sue is coming and that none of this is to be mentioned."

"You got it, mate," Bobby agreed. "See you in a bit."

"Yeah," was all Jack managed before he snapped his phone shut.

An unexplainable surge of anger crept up on him and he turned on his heels and began pacing the room, raking his fingers through his black hair with great aggravation. It was not until he felt the soft warmth of slender fingers on his coat sleeve that he realized that Sue had come in.

"The door was open a little, I hope I'm not intruding," she said, stooping down with her knees and taking the dark red tie off of the floor.

Jack shook his head silently, resigning from his anger and breathing deep in Sue's presence; her air always seemed to calm him. He stared off to the corner where two walls met the ceiling until he could meet her gaze. Her hazel eyes were looking up at him softly, expectant but without really expecting an answer.

"Here, let me," Sue finally said, breaking the silence.

She reached up to flip his collar up and fitted the tie around it. Her small fingers worked nimbly and she tied his tie into a perfect Windsor-knot as he studied her face with its vague concentrated expression. When she fitted his collar back down over it, she stepped back a few feet and inspected her work.

"Is that alright?" Sue asked. "I haven't done it for years...my brothers taught me."

To satisfy her request and try to hide his stress from his conversation with Bobby, Jack turned to the mirror that sat on top of the dresser that he had adopted from the hallway. It was a little short, but the knot was crisp and clean.

IT PERFECT. THANK YOU. He signed and watched Sue's expression in the mirror while straightening the cuffs of his sleeves.

A lovely smile passed over her lips and she obviously thought that he wasn't looking at her. Part of her hair around her crown was pulled back in what his mother used to call a half-ponytail and her bangs fell lightly around her forehead. She wore a dark grey pair of trousers and a lavender purple female version of his own shirt. The shirt was loosely form-fitting, but even through her untucked shirt he could see the small bump that seemed to have appeared gradually over the past three or four weeks. Her slender, average height form seemed to grace the rest of the darken room with its presence.

She was staring off again, to some point or other of interest on the floor or wall, he could not tell which. Subconsciously, he tried to think of a word to describe the vision she made while giving small pulls and tugs on his clothing to straighten them out. Graceful? Regal? Classy? No, they did not fit. The only word that he could think of to do her justice was...Lady. She was all of those things, but a lady. A lady for the way that she handled herself; she was lady for the quiet dignity in which she pressed on through her situation.

"Sue," Jack said, catching her attention when he turned back away from the mirror. YOU STILL SURE YOU WANT TO GO TO WORK?

YES, Sue signed back and nodded.

"Alright, then," Jack replied, stepping towards her and resting a hand on her the small of her back and leading her out of the room and into the hallway where Levi was awaiting them. Jack called for her attention, again. "By the way, you look beautiful."

As he held the door open for her and Levi to pass through, he could have sworn that he saw her brush away a small tear from her eye.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

**I hope you're enjoying this so far, if not, just let me know. Actually...I'd kind of like to know either way ! :) haha...thanks.**

"Listen to me," Bobby was saying to Myles from the corner of the room when Jack and Sue entered, sedated anger written all over his face. "You're not going to let it slip to her. She's having to deal with enough already, got it?"

"I don't think it's fair to Thomas to...," Myles returned but Jack interrupted him with a loud clearing of his throat; Myles immediately fell silent.

"Hey, sheila," Bobby said, leaving Myles by himself and crossing to Sue to envelope her in a bear hug.

"Uh, not just me hugging anymore, Bobby," Sue said with a small smile and Bobby released her quickly.

"Sorry, there, Sue," Bobby answered a little clumsily. "I...I forgot."

"It's ok," Sue answered with a pat on his elbow.

"Hey, Sue, sweetie," Demetrius said from behind Jack, coming straight to her when he entered the bullpen and pull her into a gentle embrace.

Jack watched Sue carefully for any sign that she was not handling things well, but it was Demetrius that he found with watery eyes. Then again, he couldn't seem to be surprised by that; Demetrius was their protective father and they were all a little more protective of the three women on their team...especially Sue, though none would admit it was because she had been dealt a bit of a shorter hand than they had.

"Hey, D.," Sue smiled genuinely.

YOU OK? Jack saw D. sign as he left Sue's side to the corner where Myles still stood.

"What's up?" Jack asked, referring to the little spat that he had witnessed between him and Bobby.

"This isn't right, Jack," Myles said angrily, shifted his weight to his other foot to hide his lips from Sue's view. "We have no right to keep this from her...she needs to know."

"For what purpose, exactly?" Jack asked agitatedly, his back turned to where Sue stood. "To terrify her even more...to convince her that the nightmares she's having every night are more than a little possible when I've been telling her that she was perfectly safe now?"

"You're lying to her," Myles insisted.

"I'm trying to protect her from it," Jack said through gritted teeth. "For now, at least. I just don't see any point in upsetting her if we can just catch Hernandez and throw him back on death row."

"But we haven't found him," Myles argued, still standing awkwardly to hide from Sue's view. "It's been more than two months and we've come up with nothing but dead ends. Yes, we can fairly go ahead and bust his gang's activities down and get them...but we have no idea where to look for _him_!"

Jack let out a sharp breath through his nose and turned to see Sue still talking quietly with Bobby and Demetrius beside the coffee machine. Another movement near the doorway revealed Lucy and Tara, who had insisted on returning to work until she felt as though she could not any longer.

"Oh, my God, Sue!" Lucy cried, tears immediately springing to her eyes and she covered up her mouth. Sue stepped toward her and she met her halfway and pulled her into a tight hug. "Sue, why haven't you let me come see you?"

"I didn't want you to worry...and I...really haven't been quite ready for company," Sue answered and Lucy's tearfully annoyed expression softened.

"I don't think that I'd be in any mood for normal life if I had to live with Jack either," Tara joked softly, slowly coming to meet them and hugging Sue awkwardly around her beach ball-sized stomach.

Sue laughed a little and Jack found himself smirking. However, even as he observed the three friends in their work-home, he knew that something was having an effect on Sue. He saw her make the sign for HOW LONG and Tara signed 34 WEEKS.

"Oh, my goodness, Tara," Sue breathed carefully, resting a gentle hand on Tara's belly to try and feel the baby inside. "What are you doing here? You should be resting."

"Oh, not you, too," Tara moaned. "These guys have been trying to kick me out of here for weeks...but I think that they're just mad because a pregnant woman can keep up with them."

"No, no, sheila!" Bobby said loudly with a charming smile, pushing her rolling desk chair up behind her and softly but firmly pushing her down into it. "Do not give us the compliment or censure of that statement! We only show our concern because we're afraid that Stanley may show up if we don't."

"And nobody needs to be accosted by Stan-the-man," Jack continued, mocking Bobby's Australian accent and leaving Myles in the corner without another word.

Sue shifted from one foot to the other as Jack came to stand by her. He noticed her watching Tara, laughing and smiling; even he knew that she seemed to be glowing with prenatal bliss. Then it hit him, what was bothering Sue, and he immediately felt very sorry for her. He did not know what to say or do; but then he remembered that she was told to meet Garrett in his office.

SUE, he signed. DON'T FORGET GARRETT.

RIGHT, she answered and Jack could see the vague traces of moisture in her eyes as she nodded. I GO NOW. THANK YOU.

NO PROBLEM, he answered.

I GO TOO, Lucy suddenly signed, coming up to them when she saw their exchange. JUST WALK UP HALL WITH YOU.

Sue nodded, glad to have her best friend at her side again; she had missed her so much. Jack watched them as they left for the supervisor's office, Levi following closely behind them, tail wagging away.

"How is she really doing, Jack?" Demetrius asked when he turned back to face the bullpen and his remaining teammates.

"She's quiet...but I think she's trying really hard," Jack answered, spotting Myles shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Myles...I need you to swear," Jack continued, wishing that the pleading tone would leave his voice. "You can't tell her. What progress she has made will disappear. She smiles now...sometimes even laughs. Promise that you won't ruin that."

"Jack..." Myles began to argue, feeling the eyes of the rest of the team on him.

"Promise," Bobby said firmly.

"I'm not going to agree to..." Myles pressed.

"Myles," Tara finally cut in. "I'm pregnant...under happy circumstances and I'm still terrified and very emotional sometimes. Imagine how much worse this is for Sue and the circumstances that she's in. Don't add anything else to her load. If it becomes too big...then we'll tell her. But we have to handle this one step at a time."

"Alright," Myles relented after several silent seconds. "I promise you, Jack. I promise to you all."

"Thank you." Jack crossed the room and shook Myles's hand gratefully.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sue Thomas F. or any of its characters. No infringement intended, I assure you.**

**Ok...I'm going to speed things up little because even I noticed that I've been kind of dragging things out. I'll do my best to do better here. Wish me luck and please review.**

**Umm...I was just informed that I accidentally repeated a chapter instead of adding this new one to be chapter 15. Sorry!**

The rain was pouring again as Jack hurriedly ushered Sue into her apartment building, a large cardboard box closed up with duct tape tucked awkwardly under one arm and balanced on his waist. He was standing halfway under the awning and halfway in the rain as Sue punched in the code and then he pulled the door open for her and Levi's wet tail sloshed droplets of water on his suit pants.

"Do you need help with that?" Sue asked, nodding at the large box in Jack's arms.

"I think I've got it, thanks," he answered with a smile and tried to shake the rain drops off of his drenched face.

"Here," Sue said, pulling out a handkerchief and then gently wiping the water away from his face. "Better?"

"Much," Jack answered; a small ball felt as though it was rising up painfully his throat and he wished it would stop. "Thanks," he said again.

Sue only gave another half-smile and then started up the stairs, following Levi's wagging tail that attested to his happiness at being home.

Thinking back, Jack had to admit that Sue's first day back at work had gone better than he had expected it to. She had seemed silent and reserved, somehow, even as she conversed with everyone; but that did not really surprise Jack, she seemed to be that way all the time now. For the first few days that she began improving, he had become excited, thinking that perhaps she was beginning to forget. But he had been wrong; the more he watched her, he could tell that her mind was always on whatever had happened to her during her abduction. He knew about the rapes that she had endured and he was sure that there had been some abuse from the wounds that she had sustained when they found her...but what else was it?

"I think I accidentally forgot my key at the office," Sue's voice interrupted his thoughts and caused his head to jerk up.

"Oh, ok," Jack said, trying to shift the box in his arms to reach the keys in his pocket.

"Here, let me," Sue said, seeing his struggle against the heavy container. She took hold of his pocket opening with her fingers and reached inside, but to no avail. She looked up at him over the large box and Levi whined impatiently. "Not there."

"Umm, they may be in the other," Jack answered, trying to ignore the warmth of her fingers on his slightly damp clothes and flesh.

She nodded her head and leaned around the box to reach into his other pocket; this time, the keys jangled as she pulled them out and turned over his several keys until she found the one that she needed. Jack watched her back as she fitted the key into the lock and swung the door open into the dark apartment.

"Is that the stuff from your apartment?" Sue asked, turning on the hall light and stepping back when she crossed the threshold and waited for Jack to maneuver through the doorway too.

"Well, I realized that you were right. It really didn't make any sense for me to go back and forth several times a week," Jack answered, placing the box on the floor a little ways down the hallway. He stood back up to see Sue shutting the door behind her and locking all three locks securely before she turned back to look at him. "I'm...I'm just going to go change really quick."

Sue nodded softly, pulling off her damp overcoat and hanging it up on the coat stand. She pulled off her wet boots and left them by the door. She padded across the kitchen floor, tossed her used socks into the laundry basket in the small laundry room along with her blazer.

Silently, she moved to the cabinet and extracted a can of dog food; using the built-in opener on the top, she peeled back the lid and emptied the chunks of meat and gravy into Levi's bowl. Levi ate hungrily and Sue turned back to the next cabinet to try and find something for her and Jack's own dinner.

Scanning the shelves, Sue decided on pasta and pulled out a box of penne and a small jar of Alfredo sauce. A quick and easy meal was just what she needed today, then a hot bath and her bed.

Pulling out a saucepan and filling it with warm water, the activities of the day seemed to return to overwhelm her. She had been happy to see everyone again, she had missed them all so much and she wanted her life to return to what it had been more than anything. But she knew that things would never be the same now. The pity and sorrow that she had seen in their eyes, even as they joked around with her, she knew that it was going to last. She appreciated their concern and love, but it hurt. It hurt to see that her misfortunes, no matter how horrific, had effected more than just her...it had effected everyone that knew and loved her.

A light tap on her shoulder caused her to turn around a little more quickly than she should have. Mingled with her exhausted mental state, her swift movement sent her head spinning in a dizzy spell and she grabbed the handle of the stove to maintain her balance. She stared at the floor by Jack's foot until her head came to rest and she felt Jack reached for her arm and she could tell that he had said something by the feeling of his warm breath on her forehead.

YOU OK? Jack asked when she looked back at him.

YES, Sue answered. JUST MOVE TOO FAST.

OH, SORRY, Jack signed and slowly released her arm.

With a small smile at her, Jack reached around her and grabbed the jar of Alfredo from the cabinet. ALFREDO?

YES, Sue answered, turning back to the stove to check if the water was boiling and adding the box of penne to the rapid bubbling hot water.

About an hour later, after dinner was over and the dishes cleaned, Jack crossed the living room and into his new bedroom. The sounds of the shower starting filled the apartment and he heard the door shut quietly behind Sue. Thoroughly exhausted, Jack pulled off his white t-shirt and black gym shorts. Laying them over the foot of the bed, he crawled beneath the covers and smothered his face in the pillow. Sleep overtook him almost immediately; the last thought on his mind was of Hernandez before his eyes dropped closed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own it.**

**I really don't want to seem ignorant, but what are "spoilers" that I keep seeing on other stories? **

Jack turned in his sleep, half-consciously aware of something disturbing his rest. Attempting to open his eyes and shake himself awake, he dragged a hand over his face and sat up. A distant sound of crying and sobbing had him out of the bed and headed down the hallway in a moment. Opening Sue's door, curiousity fell over him when he did not find her there. Nor was she in the livingroom or the bathroom, as usual. Passing through the livingroom to the kitchen, he found Sue sitting on the hard tiled floor.

Her legs were drawn up to her chest as much the small bump would allow and her arms wrapped around them as her shoulders moved softly with her sobs. Slowly, he stepped toward her and lowered himself to the floor beside her. Leaning back against the refridgerator, he looked at her pityingly and rubbed her back softly.

His touch seemed to startle her and she jerked away quickly before realizing that he was there. Jack's heart felt as though it had sunk into his stomach as he watched her lips quiver and the tears left small trails of moisture down her cheeks. She finally met his gaze and then sank against him, reaching up a hand to wrap around his neck as she continued to cry against the other side. Jack eased his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her hair before he really knew what he was doing.

"I...I didn't mean to wake you," Sue stammered, her words muffled from the tears and his shoulder.

Jack only shook his head in reply and pulled her tighter into his side. Sue seemed to melt into him, wrapping her small arms around him and resting her head against the area of his chest just below his shoulder. Several minutes later, her tears subsided and her breathing took on a steadier pace.

YOU OK? Jack asked, pulling a hand away from her hip and into her line of vision to sign.

YES, Sue answered slowly.

DO YOU WANT TALK ABOUT IT? Jack asked, expecting the same "no" that he had always recieved when he asked her.

YES, Sue surprised him by signing.

Pulling herself to him and settling into him more closely, Jack watched her face as she closed her eyes and tightened his grip around her. He knew that she had already given her statement to the Bureau, but he had yet to know what exactly happened.

"I was walking home the night that they took me," Sue began, eyes still closed and Jack knew that she just wanted to get her story out without questions. "Lucy took Levi with her because he was acting funny and I still needed to run by a store on the way here. All I really remember after I left the store was seeing four men behind me. It was too dark to see what they were saying and I really I just wanted to get home. I guess that they had started calling me at some point, because when they grabbed me and threw me into a van, when the light came on one of them said something like 'nobody ignores me'."

Sue took a deep breath then and Jack could feel the light shivers against him. He brushed a hand against her cheek and felt another tear against his fingers then gently wiped away the remaining ones for her. His heart was torn between sorrow and adoration when he felt her turn her head and place a light kiss on his fingers.

"I'm not sure if it was from them hitting me while we were in the van, or if they drugged me," Sue continued with a small sniff, laying her head back to its resting place on Jack's chest. "I remember feeling like something had stabbed my leg, but I can't remember anything until the point that I woke up in a bed and there was a man on top of me. He...he was..."

Jack reached for her hand and squeezed it bracingly, willing her what strength he could. He knew that she wanted to talk about it now...she was ready to face it, but it was still hard.

"When I realized what was happening, I tried to fight him," Sue carried on through the thickness in her voice that restrained tears caused. "He beat me for it. When he left...someone else came in. I don't know what they said...but he came over to me and twisted my arm until I felt it snap. I guess I screamed because he beat me more until I hardly realized what he was doing. Then he... I don't know how many days I was there, but it seemed like the first few days...that's all they did. They beat me...then raped me...then it happened all over again. There were only a few precious hours of peace when they locked me in some small closet."

Jack tightened his grip around Sue, pulling her closer to him and lifting the hand that he held in his to his lips. The angst in her voice and every aspect of her pained him like a knife in his back, making it hard for him to breathe. He wanted to help her, to take away all of her pain. If it hurt him this badly just to hear her talk about it, he could not imagine the feelings inside of her.

"Then...some man came, the one that everyone has been calling Hernandez," Sue pressed on and Jack could sense her desperation to get it all out into the open between them. "After he showed up...it was just him that...it was just him. At first, I thought it was a relief, because they left me alone in the little closet for longer. But one night...he came and pulled me out. He didn't rape me...he didn't do anything...but break my leg. I don't even remember how he did it...I just remember thinking how badly it hurt and wondering why he was doing it. He shoved me back in the closet then. I stayed there for a long time then. I don't know how long, but I would guess that it was a few days...I could only tell day from night by the small hole in the wall of the little closet that showed outside to a bunch of trees. Then...one night, a light blinded me and someone started pulling me out. I tried to fight, but I just couldn't."

Sue paused, looking up at Jack, meeting his eyes and calling for his close attention. "I never knew...how comforting ASL could be. I had no idea what you were trying to do to my hand until I felt the fingerspelling and realized that it was telling me who had me. Jack...Jack...I will never be able to thank you enough. I can't even begin to explain everything that I felt when I saw you and knew that...for once, after all of those days of torture...that someone was just holding me. My friend was holding me...protecting me...and I was safe. I think D. was there...but all of my memories of those few weeks are very blotchy. After we made it to the ambulance...I don't remember anything until the day I woke up in the hospital."

Jack swallowed back enormous lump in his throat and tried to fight the tears in his eyes and the raggedness of his breathing. His attempts at composure were fruitless and the tears of anger and regret fell from his face. Sue slowly reached up a hand and the soft skin of her fingertips wiped them away and rested it on his cheek.

"It's ok, Jack," Sue went on, rubbing his lower back with her other hand as he lost control completely. He could not help it anymore; he leaned his head down to rest on Sue's shoulder and felt her shift her position so that she was now holding him as the sobs overtook him. "It's ok, Jack. Sometimes God has to let us go through the valley to get us to the mountain tops. It's ok."

"I...I just...how could've I let that happen?" Jack choked out. He knew that Sue probably hadn't read his lips clearly, but her guess hit the mark.

"Jack," Sue went on, one arm running up and down his broad back as the other held his neck against her slender shoulder. "The team saved me...you saved me. Tara told me that it was you that had went back to check the closet that nobody else had paid any attention to. I can't tell you how much you have been me since. I know that I haven't said much since everything happened, but I didn't know what to say. What do you say to a friend that cares about you enough to interrupt his bacholar-free life and move in with his broken and expecting female colleague? You've done so much more than you had to. You helped me to change and...go to the bathroom and...bathed me everyday, sometimes multiple times when I got sick. Jack, you've taken such good care of me and I don't want you to think that I am not very grateful to you. It's been hard...coping with everything...but I think the hardest part was seeing the effect that it had on you, too."

NO, SUE, Jack signed, shaking his head and looking up at her to see his lips. "That was no trouble...I wanted to be here."

"But that's what confuses me the most," Sue replied, tears filling her eyes too. "Somehow, I knew that. I watched you everyday and you just seemed to take me on as your responsibility when you didn't have to."

Jack remained silent for several long moments, looking down at her. He wanted to tell her, he needed to tell her how he felt. But how would she take it? He was terrified that he was going to do something that would harm her even more physically, emotionally, or both. But something in her eyes assuaged his mind.

"I love you, Sue," Jack confessed, holding her gaze desperately, clinging to her every move and expression to try and gain a reaction or some hint of what she was thinking. "Sue...I'm in love with you. I love you. I can't explain it...I just..."

"I know," Sue interrupted his babbling and he looked down to see the calm tears in her eyes. However, what surprised him the most was that he actually saw a lovely, albeit watery, smile gracing her lips. "I know Jack," she repeated, tracing the line of his jawbone with her hand. "You showed me that these past few months. I didn't want to assume anything...but somehow I knew."

Jack watched her in silence again, wanting desperately more a reply. He needed an answer to his unasked question...he needed to know.

"I love you, too, Jack Hudson," Sue said finally. "I love you, too."

Despite all of the mixed emotions raging in his chest, Jack felt an incredible sense of relief and sheer amazment at her answer. Wordlessly, he pulled his arms tightly about her and pulled her closely to him. He froze just before he closed the space between them, not sure if he was taking things too far and allowing himself to get too excited. But Sue's soft nod and searching eyes bearing into his reassured him.

Gently, he captured her lips with his and his mind seemed to go dead to everything other than her as she reacted to him and added her own participation to the kiss. The kiss was slow and careful before it heightened to a desperate needy embrace. Neither knew how long they kissed the other, or how long they were hold the other.

Soon, Sue fell asleep in Jack's arms. As he watched her sleep, for once, peacefully and blissfully, he felt his own body beginning to demand rest from all of the emotional exhaustion. As his eyes began to close against his immediate will and his mind began to go blank, he could not help but realize how unconventional it was to fall asleep on a kitchen floor.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**I just wanted to say thanks for the very nice reviews. I'm glad that my story seems to be being enjoyed and thank you to all that are still reading and reviewing. **

**P.S.: I still don't know what a spoiler is. Anyone want to enlighten me please?**

Bright rays of the morning sun shone through the blinds of the kitchen window over the sink, casting long thin strips of light over the kitchen floor. Jack blinked his eyes tightly in attempt to block them out, but naturally failed. An uncomfortable crick in his neck and shoulders and a small pain in his arm made him turn over onto his side to try and find a more comfortable position. However, turning on his side, the sight of Sue lying on the floor next to him effectively woke him up quickly.

It was then that he realized why his arm was aching. He found that he had both arms still wrapped around Sue's waist as she lay cuddled up to him, her face burrowed against his side. Gently, he shifted his position to lay facing her and pulled her closer to him. Looking down on her sleeping form, the question from two nights ago entered his mind again. _If he lost one thing for the sake of the other...would his love for the thing he chose be destroyed because of the other loss? _

Jack thought on that question for the next several minutes, ignoring the awkwardness in his neck, shoulders, and arms. He loved Sue, more than he could even reason in his own mind. His entire life, his entire self, had become completely encased by her. His life was now about her. True...he loved his job and knew that something would be missing inside of him if he gave it up. But, thinking back on the horrible pain of having your soul torn in two when Sue had been missing, Jack knew that trying to live without her for the rest of his life would be far more detrimental.

He could always find something else that would keep them both in the same city. He was a lawyer, after all, and knew that he could make them a good life. With his long resume of experiance and education, he knew that it would be easy to get a top job with a distinguished firm. He probably would not particularly like his job, but he was certain that getting to come home to Sue everyday would be more than a fair tradeoff. No matter what, he only knew that he could not go on as he had been; he could not keep longing for her from afar, just out of reach to being with her. He needed her.

"Jack?" Sue's voice startled him; he had not realized that she was awake when she pulled a warm hand away from its place on his side.

"Good morning," Jack answered, unable to stifle a yawn and a sleepy smile as all of his worries were alleviated at the sight of her bright morning eyes.

GOOD MORNING, Sue signed back with her own small yawn as she looked past Jack. "I think it's a good thing that I decided to make my first day back a Friday."

"Why?" Jack asked, turning around and seeing the clock on the stove behind him. "Whoa...it's already nine-thirty?

"What?" Sue asked, lifting her head to see his lips.

"Oh, sorry," Jack answered ruefully, turning back to her. "I just can't believe it's nine-thirty already. We would've been late for work."

Sue nodded silently with a small smile and rested her head back against his chest. _Yes, I definately need to talk to Garrett about my resignation Monday_, Jack thought to himself.

WE SHOULD GET UP, Jack signed, reaching his hands down into her view and tapping on her side. WE BOTH BE STIFF AND HURT.

Sue nodded in agreement and slowly pulled herself away from him and Jack sat up. If it had not been for the fact that he had slept there with Sue, he would have immediately regretted his slumber on the rock hard surface of a tiled floor. His muscles lay dormant and protested to his every movement. Forcing himself into a standing position, he stretched his hostile muscles into submission before kneeling down to help Sue into a sitting position.

"This little one is starting to be more trouble than I would like," Sue said, resting a hand on her growing belly when Jack helped her to stand and she was finally on her feet.

Watching her closely, Jack could not help but notice the way that she seemed to caress her stomach...her baby...so lovingly and gently. What everyone, including herself, had first considered to be a bad thing, he could tell that she now loved it. A strange feeling entered his head and chest, making him feel sad and longing. It was very strange, indeed, but he realized that he wished that it was his baby. He wished that the baby inside of the woman he loved belonged to him, too. He wanted to love it the way he could see her loving it; he wanted to feel the closeness and possession that she obviously did.

"Jack," Sue said suddenly, slowly pulling away from his grip. "I need..."

But she was across the kitchen and kneeling over the garbage bin before she could finish. Jack crossed over to her and rubbed her back and shoulders as she retched. With the other hand, he gathered up her hair and held it out of the way as he had become so used to doing over the past few months. First she had been sick from the memories, then the doctor's medications, and now from the morning sickness.

SORRY, Sue signed, leaning away from the trash can and balancing on her knees and the balls of her feet. THANK YOU.

NO PROBLEM, Jack signed back, standing to tear a paper towel from its holder on the counter and then crossing to wet it in the sink. Squeezing out the excess water, he returned to where she sat and kneeled down beside her. Taking her chin gently in his hand, he used the damp paper cloth to wipe up her mouth and then placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I'll tell you what," Sue said, leaning into his kiss. "Let me go take a shower, then while you take a shower, I'll cook breakfast."

"I think it may be more like lunch then, but ok," Jack answered with a smile.

With her own smile but not another word, Sue used Jack's arm to help her stand and then departed from the kitchen for the bathroom, petting Levi fondly at his place on the livingroom couch. As soon as she closed the door behind her in the bathroom, she spit into the sink and reached for her toothbrush in the medicine cabinet.

Washing away the toothpaste and rinsing the brush, she replaced them both in the medicine cabinet. When she closed it back, she saw her reflection in the mirror and it startled her. Her expression was blank and seemed saddened as she reached her fingers to her forehead and brushed them through the roots of her tangled hair. Her eyes looked tired and her skin fairly blanched and shallow.

Slowly, Sue reached down and slipped off her pajama bottoms and panties. She pulled off her shirt rested her hand on her stomach as she looked herself over. Where she had been mostly covered in cuts and bruises a few months ago, there was now nothing but very pale skin. Few testaments to her former abuse remained, the most obvious of which continued to grow almost daily, at least in her opinion. There was still the slight pain in her leg where it had been broken, but really only a subtle ache from time to time. Her arm was healed completely, but the skin around where the bone had protruded a small amount remained slightly discolored, barely noticible.

Sue turned her face to the left and leaned forward over the sink for a closer look. With one hand, she pulled her hair back and out of the way. There, stretching from her hairline all the way around her face to her jawbone, was a semi-thick scar that seemed to be the only one that she had sustained that just would not fade. The flashing memory of heavy chair leg striking her tore through her mind and she turned away from the mirror as a small tear fell from her eyes.

Padding her bare feet across the bathroom tiles, she reached into the shower and adjusted the water temperature to her preference and then stepped in. Closing the glass door, she allowed to steam to envelope her chilled body and slipped beneath the steady stream of hot water. As the merciful warmth fell over her, her thoughts returned to Jack. A small smile pulled her lips upwards as she thought of the way that he had held her as she cried and then when she fell asleep. The way he had looked at her had made her heart pound wildly inside her chest and her breathing had become hard and difficult.

She knew that it was a mental-discrepancy, coming from the memories of the men that had stolen away her innocence and virtue. But something had messed up her way of thinking after all of that. She had to admit, for the first week or two, she had become somewhat afraid of all men...even Jack, at first, as he was taking care of her. She knew that it was stupid, but she could not help but be wary; it was men who had hurt her, who had done horrible things to her.

But now, she could see the distinct differece. Now that she had finally seen what she needed to in Jack's eyes and felt what she needed in his arms, she could finally feel herself beginning to heal mentally and emotionally. True, horrible things had been done to her by men; but now she remembered the fact that that did not make all men the same. She could still trust the men in her life.

She loved Jack, more than she was even able to say or put into words. She did not understand it, herself, but she knew with everything in her that she wanted Jack to always be there with her...and somehow, she knew that he would be.

Reaching for the bottle of shampoo, she quickly lathered the suds in her tangled hair and combed through it with her fingers. With a rag and bodywash, she cleaned herself swiftly, now eager to be done with the task. But as the soapy cloth ran over her stomach, she paused.

"You really are mine, aren't you?" Sue asked and signed at the same time, looking down at the place where she could feel her baby resting. Reaching her fingers to her lips, she kissed them and then placed them on her belly. With the other hand she made the I Love You sign and pressed it into her stomach beside her other fingers.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Pax and Pebblehut get to take credit for that. But please read and review anyways. :)**

**I know that I've been updating a little much, but being sick is the pits and I need a good distraction. Thanks.**

When Jack stepped out of the bathroom, changed into a fresh t-shirt and blue jeans, he breathed in the cooler air of the livingroom as a welcome change from the hot steam of the bathroom. When the kitchen came into view, he saw Sue reaching up into a cupboard and pulling out a stack of three plates and then set them on the counter.

Her blonde hair fell over her shoulders and down her back to her shoulderblades in the small waves that were left behind from allowing her hair to air-dry. She had changed out of her pajamas into a pair of dark blue jeans and a light pink turtleneck sweater. There was something strange about the cut of the shirt; it appeared to be a little longer in the front than in the back and cut off just above the stomach to fall down more like a dress. Then Jack realized that it must be a maternity sweater. Stepping into the kitchen quietly, he made the sign for Stay to keep Levi from alerting her to his presence.

"Something smells good," Jack said, wrapping his hands around Sue's waist to call for her attention, making her jump.

"You startled me, Hudson," Sue said with false reprimand in her tone and a playful swat aimed at his shoulder.

Jack moved one hand to rub his fist over his chest. "Sorry. Do I still get some of those pancakes?"

"I'll think about it," Sue answered wryly, turning back to the stove and reaching for the spatula. "I'm sure that Levi would be more than happy to get yours, if you don't learn to behave yourself."

At this, Levi perked up from his place on the floor at Sue's feet and began to pant happily as his tail began sweeping back and forth. The movement caught Sue's eye and she looked back at Jack with another small smile.

"Don't get too excited buddy, I'm a fast learner," Jack warned Levi, who immediately layed his head back onto his paws as though he understood what had been said.

"Now look, you've depressed my dog," Sue accused, pretending to be annoyed.

"Well we can't have that, now can we?" Jack replied mischievously and reached around Sue to pull an already cooked pancake from the plate. He snuck it back around his back and then tossed it to Levi, who caught it in his mouth eagerly.

"Hmmm...you probably would have done it anyway," Sue said, turning back around with a shrug that seemed to say no-point-in-getting-aggravated.

Jack still had not released her waist and stepped closer to her, feeling the need to be close to her and finally taking the liberty of acting on it. He felt her tense slightly beneath his arms and then relax into him, resting her head back against his neck. Jack circled one hand around to rest on her stomach and formed the I Love You sign. When Sue looked at him, he signed, BOTH OF YOU.

A lovely smile graced Sue's lips. He was glad that he had been able to tell her that. He needed her to know that he loved her and that he loved her baby, too. Something told him that it was important for her to know that.

Sue turned around in his arms and reached up to kiss his lips, allowing her hands to drift slowly up from his waist and feel the hot flesh beneath his shirt. As the kiss deepened, Jack leaned in closer to her, subconsciously holding her back from the hot stove. But a loud popping sound interrupted them and Jack pulled away.

Turning to see what was the matter, Sue found the pancake that she had been cooking blackened and burned.

"Ok," she said, quickly pulling it off of the burner and switching the stove off. "That one was my fault."

She used the spatula to hold it in the air for a few seconds and then tossed that one to Levi, as well. Jack went to turn off the smoke detector that had suddenly begun to scream loudly before it alarmed the neighbors.

Jack dried his hands with the dishtowel and shut the dishwasher door. Tossing the towel into the laundry room on the appropriate pile, he continued on into the hallway for the cardboard box that he had brought the night before. Picking it up, he took it into the the livingroom where Sue was sitting on the couch with a book and dropped it on the floor beside her.

"What all is in there, anyway?" Sue asked, putting her book aside as Jack settled onto the floor cross-legged and began pulling the tape off of the box panels.

"Mostly clothes," Jack answered, pulling out a stack of folded shirts and sitting them in the chair behind him.

"Well what's this, then?" Sue asked.

She had reached into the box, pushed a stack of pants and underclothes to the side and pulled out a large framed picture. Turning it to see for herself, her brows narrowed in confusion.

"A hockey picture?" Sue asked, turning it back around and Jack stood to his feet.

"Not just any hockey picture," Jack defended, smiling mischievously and took the picture out of Sue's hand. "That picture is from the first NHL game I ever attended. I got it when I was seven. That, my dear, is a day of reverence."

"Alright, I understand that," Sue said, nervously watching him as he crossed the room and began surveying the wall over the television. "But why did you bring it here?"

Jack stepped forward and reached the picture up against the wall and looked as though he were judging its perfect place. Jack could hear the hesitation in her voice and was glad that his little joke seemed to be working; he had wondered exactly how she would react to him trying to put such a masculine thing in her very un-masculine livingroom.

"I thought that it would go great in here," Jack said, turning back for her to see his lips and struggling to keep the smile from reaching his lips when her eyes widened a little and both eyebrows rose a little.

Sue cleared her throat lightly and reached up a hand to rub at the back of her neck, uncertain of what to say. It took everything in Jack power not to laugh at her obvious discomfort and he began to feel a little bad for messing with her...but just a little.

"Umm...don't you think that you would be able to enjoy it more in your room?" Sue asked and Jack could not help himself.

"Oh, no," he argued, setting the picture down on the coffee table and turning to the kitchen drawer where he knew she kept her small hammer and nails. He returned to the livingroom and smiled brightly. "My father always said that a picture like this should always be put on display for everyone to enjoy."

Jack put the nail to the wall and rose the hammer, but, just as he had planned, Sue stopped him before he could make the slightest mark in her paint.

"Please, don't, Jack," Sue said suddenly and loudly and he turned back around in mock surprise and found her trying to stand up.

Jack finally allowed himself the hearty laugh that he had been witholding and crossed to the sofa to gently sit her back down. The look on Sue's face was still worried but confused, all at the same time.

I JOKE, Jack laughed, sitting down beside her. I NO HANG PICTURE. I JOKE.

YOU MEAN, Sue signed back, kicking his foot. YOU BAD MAN. THAT MEAN.

I LOVE YOU. Jack ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her closer, relishing in the innocent beauty of her.

I LOVE YOU TOO. Sue leaned into him, pulling her arms back around his waist as one of his hands brushed over her belly.

Jack leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers; but just before he could really initiate the kiss, he phone rang loudly and he gave an annoyed sigh. He pulled away relunctantly and reached for her phone, seeing the understanding as Sue softly nodded her head.

"Hudson," Jack answered, standing up from the couch and giving Sue a hand up when she reached for his.

"Jack, it's Bobby," Bobby's hurried voice came over the phone and Jack knew that something was wrong. He turned to look at Sue, but thankfully, she had left for the bathroom. "I pulled a few strings with Garrett to get him to let us keep using SOG on the Hernandez case."

"And...?" Jack pressed on impatiently, knowing that Bobby would not have sounded the way he did if that was the only news.

"And they finally spotted him," Bobby answered. "They spotted him and had him for about fourty-five minutes, but they lost him again."

"Spotted him where?" Jack fairly shouted.

There were several seconds of dead silence and Jack could hear Bobby breathing on the other side of the phone and the noise of traffic and crowds in the background.

"At Sue's apartment, Jack," Bobby finally said and Jack felt sick to the stomach at his words. "He went in on the ground level, wearing a postal uniform. He put something in her mailbox, but the guys from SOG couldn't see what is was."

Jack was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Hernandez knew where she lived. He had to have been watching them.

"Jack, you need to go check the mail, mate," Bobby said in a calming voice. "The rest of the team will be down there in case it's anything dangerous."

"He knows where she lives, Bobby," Jack stated simply, still worried about that important fact. "He knows how to get to her."

"Jack," Bobby said, obviously trying to calm his friend in the way he knew would be the most effective: making straight-forward answers and being sensible. "We think he knows where you live, too. Your landlord called us an hour ago...someone broke into your apartment. They didn't steal anything but they were looking for something. The landlord said that there was a birthday card from Sue laying on the kitchen counter. We think that may be where they got Sue's address from."

"Just listen to me, Jack," Bobby continued calmly. Jack could feel his heart beginning to race and heard Sue come out of the bathroom. "Stay calm. We can't let him know that we're onto him or he'll disappear again. You and Sue just stay where you are and pretend that you don't know a thing. We have SOG and agents watching your place twenty-four-seven, alright? It's going to be ok, mate. Just sneak down here and check the mail really quick."

"Ok," Jack breathed, Bobby's speech having its intended affect and calming him down a fraction. "Be there in a second."

Jack flipped his phone closed and heard Sue come up behind him.

"Who was that?" Sue asked and Jack saw the moisture in her eyes and her slightly disheveled appearance and knew that she had become sick again.

"Just Bobby, telling me that I forgot to turn in my man-power report. Aparently, Randy's on the rampage." Jack felt aweful for lying to her, but how could he tell her the truth?

"Oh," Sue answered. "Umm...would you mind terribly if we did a little shopping today? Tara gave me a few maternity shirts like this one yesturday, but her pants were a little big and mine aren't fitting anymore."

Jack looked down to where Sue showed him that her swollen belly was no longer allowing for her jeans to zip and button. With a small smile, he stepped forward and kissed her forehead with his hand on her belly again.

"We'll go in just a bit," Jack promised. "You just do whatever you need to before we go and I'll run down and check the mail really quick."


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: Still can't claim it and still can't sleep. But on the bright side, I'm becoming very familiar with the rim of our toilet...I'm so glad I clean that stupid thing often.**

**P.S.: I just read SarahShalomDavid's profile and it had a lot of little passages that made me cry. Just a suggestion, I think you all should go and read them. They say a lot in a small amount of computer screen. Props to you SaraShalomDavid, if you even see this.**

**And thanks if your still reading and reviewing this.**

Jack cleared the flight of stairs at a near run and busted into the postal room hurriedly. Spotting Bobby, Myles, and Demetrius over in the corner, he crossed over to them.

"Details, now," Jack commanded, employing his rarely-used authoritative teamleader voice and expression. "Where's Tara?"

"Tara's in the hospital with Stanley," Bobby answered immediately, not wanting to try his best mate's patiences by arguing; besides, even he knew that Jack did have some authority over him, though on principle he would never admit it out loud for his pride's sake. "Apparently, Stan-the-man thought that she was going into labor and made her go to the hospital. When they got there the doctor told him that Tara was right, that she was just having normal pains. Well, our Stan passes clean out and has been down for...," Bobby regarded his watch, "about three hours now."

Jack shooked his head, hoping that he could shake the rediculousness out all together. "D?" he asked more hopefully.

"SOG is watching Sue's apartment right now and we're trying to organize renting the vacant apartment next to Sue's with the landlord, right now. We want to get agents near you two as quickly as possible."

"Good thing that we know the landlord really well then, isn't it?" Jack asked absentmindedly turning his keys over in search of the one to fit Sue's mailbox that she had given him.

"What?" Myles demanded suddenly, interrupting the telephone conversation that he was having to stare at Jack furiously. "What do you mean we know the landlord really well?"

"Well, not the actual landlord, he lives in France," Jack answered, staring at him blankly and confused. "Charlie takes care of this place for him; he's like the landlord, in essence, but doesn't really own it. But he makes all of those decisions. Didn't you know that?"

Myles looked furious at not having had this tidbit of information and immediately slammed down the reciever and began dialing another number, mumbling about spending forever trying to get through to France to find somebody.

"How do you know that it was Hernandez?" Jack asked, clinging to the only hope that he had found: that perhaps they were all mistaken.

"He's easily identifiable by a large scar that goes from his forehead to his chin," Bobby clarified. "It seems that Sue put up a bit of a fight, too, from Hernandez's stories in his interrogations. He said something about a chair leg and how he took it from her."

"Sue has a scar like that," Jack said, again, his mind absent from the people around him.

Silence ensued for several seconds as Demetrius and Bobby watched Jack, curious of his behavior. They knew that Jack cared about Sue in a stronger way than they all cared for her or Lucy or Tara, everyone knew that. But this was different, this was suffering and pain on his part; sometimes it seemed that he was hurting more than she was.

"So, can I open it now?" Jack asked, snapping his head up and looking toward the wall of post office boxes.

"Yeah, we've already check it for any kind of metal and the only metal in that box is enough for lead from a pencil or something," Bobby answered, brushing his worries for his friend off again for the millionth time.

Jack pulled on the latex gloves that Myles mutely threw at him while still talking to Charlie on the phone, nodded soundlessly and moved to Sue's mailbox. When he opened it, he pulled out what looked like a normal stack of mail. Closing it back up and locking it, he brought the mail back to the counter where D. and Bobby stood. Tossing each envelope and card on the counter one by one, he searched for anything out of the norm. Bill, bill, bill, blood drive, appointment reminder, sales paper, credit card offer, junk, junk, junk, hand-written letter.

"What have we here, gents?" Bobby said, a note of excitement in his voice.

Jack pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket and slit the envelope open carefully. Inside, he found a single sheet of yellow paper from a legal pad.

"Well, isn't that ironic?" Bobby joked. "Ravage the law and use our stationary."

Jack ignored Bobby's interjection and pulled out the paper. He unfolded it as though he were performing an evasive surgery, scared to know what he was going to find in it composition. Before enlightening the others, he read it silently to himself.

Anger boiled within him and his voice choked slightly with his rage as he read it aloud for them.

_My Dear Whore,_

_ I am certain that you will remember me. It was I that saved you from my hungry wolves for little payment in return. I must admit, you were beautiful even when you were obviously at your worst. I hope that you do not miss me too much, I can have that effect on some women._

_ I know that you are carrying my child. I made sure of it. But I did not expect you to leave so soon. I only wish to pay you the courtesy of informing you that, ever since I was a child, family come first and foremost in my family. We do not lose our flesh and our blood. We fight for it, to have it. I offer you my civil warning now._

_ The child that you carry is mine. You did not wish to have it because I had to force you. You are merely the whore that I needed to bring it into this earth. It is, in no way, yours and I will have what is mine. You may submit willingly this time, as you refused to do before, or I may force you again, as I did before. _

_ Remember, I can see you. _

_ Sincerely,_

_ The Father_

_P.S. Please tell your black-headed friend, Jack Hudson, to stop fondling my child inside your stomach._

Jack felt his teeth clenching tightly when he finally finished and his friends looked at him cautiously. It took a great deal of will-power not to crumple the paper up and begin cursing violently. It was evidence, it was handwritten.

"Jack," Demetrius said calmly, placing a firm and reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder. "This is much more serious than we thought. He's following you two somehow and staying out of sight of SOG."

"He's not following us," Jack corrected, the anger inside of him growing into an inferno as everything came together and realization dawned on him. "He's watching us."


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Still sick.**

"What do you mean 'watching'?" Myles asked confusedly, coming to join the trio when he had obtain Charlie's immediate permission after answering a bundle of questions for Sue's elderly friend.

Jack gritted his teeth, hesitant to confess his and Sue's intimate moments together to his coworkers and friends, but he knew that it was critically important.

"The only time that I touched Sue's stomach to feel the baby was this morning," Jack admitted and saw the realization dawning on his teammember's faces, too.

"What? Was something wrong with her?" Myles asked stupidly before thinking Jack's statement through, his brows narrowed as if in deep thought as he looked to Jack for an answer.

"No," Jack answered sharply, his tone annoyed and slow as though he were explain one plus one to twenty year old. "I was in the middle of kissing her."

Myles's face paled consequently and Jack could see the ruefullness in his eyes. He knew that even Myles would not be that truly prick-ish on purpose, but he was still too annoyed to feel bad for snapping.

"So...Hernandez is watching you two and we have no idea how," Bobby stated, sorting through reason audibly. "The safest place for the both of you, right now, would be a safe house with other agents and security. You are holding a letter with an obvious threat to Sue in her hands, yet, I'm guessing, you still don't want to tell her."

"We're not telling her," Jack stated firmly, determined to hold his ground though they obviously disagreed with him.

"Jack, mate, we have to tell her now," Bobby pleaded with him. "This much more than a mere suspicion, now. Now this is real, we have proof that he's after Sue and the baby and that he knows how to get to her."

"No, no," Myles cut in, his voice loud and angry. "Don't even bother, Bobby. If Hudson gave a damn about Sue, he would have done what really needed doing and told her as soon as we knew. But he doesn't. He doesn't give a shit about Thomas or her child or else he would do anything in his power to make sure she was safe, especially since he's lead agent on her case!"

"Don't you dare, Myles!" Jack shouted furiously and he felt Demetrius's hands restraining him, though he fought against them hard. "I love her and I'd die before I saw her hurt again. When you start to give a shit about someone more than yourself, then you come and tell me that I'm making the wrong decision here. You don't have a clue what the hell's been going on here! I do! I've been taking care of her ever since we got her back! I helped bathe her! I helped her go to the bathroom! I was there with her when she couldn't care for herself! I'm the one that's had to watch her every night for more than three month...tossing and turning with horrible nightmares. I had to feel like it was all happening right there in front of me every time I had to hold her for hours to calm her down and get her to sleep! You haven't seen the way that she's been struggling with this! I have and I'll be damned before I see you ruin all of her progress!"

"Don't make this about you!" Myles screamed back as Bobby held him back, too, and both D. and Bobby tried and failed to calm down their captives. "Sue's in danger and you need to forget your feelings and stop lusting over her long enough to realize that she needs a real man's decision!"

This came like a blow to Jack's stomach. What the hell was Myles saying?

"I'm making the decision that I think is best!" Jack argued.

"You mean the decision that will keep you in the privacy of her apartment!" Myles bellowed.

"Myles! That's enough!" Demetrius finally shouted, drowing out both of their own yells. "You know good and well that Jack's doing what he think will be best for Sue." Demetrius calmed his voice when both men finally calmed in thier hostilities. "There are two things to consider here, and that's what Jack's trying to do. A person's safety includes more than just their physical well-being."

Demetrius finally released Jack and Bobby let go of Myles when they thought it safe enough. Jack glared at Myles with the utmost hatred; one, for the things that he said, insinuating that he didn't care about Sue, and two, because he wanted to know what the hell would make Myles say the things he did about Jack's true motives.

"Bobby," Jack requested, pulling his gaze away from Myles and gathering up the remaining mail the heading back toward the stairs. "Have SOG waiting for us and clear everything out of here in ten minutes. Sue has a doctor's appointment today and needed to make a few other stops on the way."

"Righto, mate," Bobby said quietly and Jack saw both him and D glaring at Myles angrily through the corner of his eye.

**Hint: May seem like a filler, but this chapter is going to be important.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Wish I could, but I can't.**

**Thanks for the review KJcupcake2nd, I'm glad to see that you're enjoying the chapters despite my circumstances. Haha :). I'm still sick so there will probably be a few more chapters up today. And thank you to all that read the story but did not review...even though I really like reviews. They make me a little excited every time I get one. :)**

**And thank you for the definition of a spoiler KJcupcake2nd, now I can use one.**

**Spoiler: Episode 212-Rocket Man**

Demetrius, Bobby, and Myles watched Jack's back as he disappeared up the stairwell before turning back to each other.

"Can you believe him?" Myles demanded in a hushed voice, obviously still fuming. "Who does he think he is trying to determine Sue's life?"

"He's a man that cares about her more than he does himself," Demetrius answered evenly, his temper calm but his eyes holding more warning than all of Jack's former hostilities. "He's in just as much danger as she is by staying with her because now he's seen as an obsticle for Hernandez. I suggest you shut your mouth and remember that Jack has the final say in this."

Myles shook his head angrily and stormed off, his physical dishevelment from the arguement apparent. When the glass finally closed behind him and he could be seen crossing the street to the SOG's false eletrical company van, Bobby turned back to Demetrius.

"Jack's my best mate, you know that," Bobby began with an uncertain expression. "But I can't honestly say that I don't agree with the little drongo a bit. I do think that Jack is making a really stupid decision in this. I sincerely hope that it doesn't take something happening to Sue to make him see that."

"If you say that he's your best mate," Demetrius argued, now visibly angry. "Then act like it. You, of all people, are the last one I would expect to start questioning him."

"Listen, D.," Bobby went on, grabbing Demetrius's arm as he turned to walk away. "I'm not questioning his motives or his good intentions. He doesn't talk to me about Sue, but I'd have to be a blubbering idiot not to see how much he cares about her. I just...look, we all care about Sue, you, me, Myles, Tara, Lucy, and Jack...I just think that he should be a little more open to other options."

"Bobby," Demetrius replied, his voice now calmer and clear as though he were explaining something to his son. "I don't expect you...or Myles...to understand something like this. Now I know you love Darcy, but you've never had to see her in a condition worse than death. When Donna miscarried...that took time for her to heal. That was one of the hardest things we've ever been through and even that was nothing compared to this. I can't imagine what Sue's going through right now and has been going through for months. We just need to remember that Jack does know...he has been there through it all and he does know what's best for her better than anyone else."

Bobby listened attentively and nodded his head in understanding. They did all love Sue and they all had their own ideas of what's best for her, but Demetrius was right. Jack was in the best position to make such a huge decision.

"Now," Demetrius continued, changing the subject a notch. "I would really like to know what exactly was running through Myles's head to make him act like that. Even he usually knows better than that."

"D.," Bobby grinned mischievously, breaking the tension in the apartment mailroom. "No one...on God's green earth...ever really knows what's going on in that man's head."

Demetrius shook his head with a resigned laugh and accompanied Bobby to the door.

"Alright, you lot," Bobby called behind him. "Let's get everything moved out of here kangaroo-style! Quick-like!"

Sitting alone in the SOG van with a few people coming and going briefly, loading up equipment, Myles sat on one of stools and watched the watched the monitor. This particular screen was a view of Sue's living room that SOG had set up on a sign across the street from her apartment.

He watched in brooding silence as Sue and Jack talked amiably, getting ready for a day out. Jack was helping Sue into her long coat and then Sue turned around to thank him with a small kiss on the cheek that progressively turned into something more. Annoyed, Myles adverted his eyes from the screen but looked back a peek just as they pulled apart. There was no audio, thankfully, or else Myles felt as though he might be sick.

He turned to see Bobby crawl into the van, followed closely by Demetrius and several other people that would be riding with them back to the F.B.I. building. As the truck started to run, the various tasks of shutting off all of the equipment carried on and the van lurched forward toward their destination.

As they all sat in silence, Myles ignore the looks from the others and stared forward out the windshield. Just why, exactly, did Jack think that he could get away with breaking F.B.I.'s policy so blatantly? Right there, on camera, he was doing exactly what he had guaranteed Garrett and their superiors that he would not, and he was getting away with it! Why Jack seemed to have this special privilege was beyond Myles, but why would Sue go along with it?

Ok, that one was a stupid thought. Everyone knew about Jack and Sue, even before they did. It was really inevitable; but something still niggled at the back of Myles's mind...a strange feeling of anger and contempt for Jack, who had called colleague for several years and friend for the past few. He could not quite name the deep annoyance that sparked in his mind every time he thought about Jack and Sue. It had lit like an engine spark when Jack had admitted that he was kissing Sue when he touched her stomach to feel her baby. It was a strange fury that grated on his nerves, even more so, because he did not know why. Then a thought hit him like a strike to the head, and it seemed nearly impossible.

Was he jealous of Jack?

**Was that corny? I wasn't sure how to get this one across that well. Oh well, please review for me, even if it was! Thanks.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep doing this? Not mine!**

**Hey, I just want to thank 4everyoung, KJcupcake2nd, cas88, and JaS2g for the reviews. They were really nice and a huge encouragement. And thank you to everyone else that may be keeping up with my little story...that's a compliment in itself.**

**Also, thanks for the well wishes to my whining. Forgive me if I'm giving to much information...but I can't help but be freaking-out excited! My blood and biopsy test results came back and I'm cancer-free! I'm just really anemic! Sorry...just happy here! And feeling better. I also passed my Certified Nursing Assistant exam today...just having a really good day in general, I guess. **

**Now...after this dreadfully long author's note...onto the thing that you are here for!**

**Spoiler: Pilot**

Random shreds of various conversations tore through the air as the usual bustle of Saturday shoppers continued on in a fluent flow of activity and Jack could not help but feel a little distracted as he waited for Sue to come out of the ladies' dressing room. He glanced over at the cash register from his chair outside the dressing rooms and met the eyes of the man standing next to it, pretending to be reading a salespaper from the tool store next door in the large mall.

The man nodded almost imperceptibly and Jack nodded back, accepting the secret form of introduction. He could feel it. They were being watched from every angle and, even though he knew that it was for their own protection, it was extremely uncomfortable.

"What do you think of this, for church?" Sue asked, stepping out of the dressing room and coming into Jack's view just enough to avoid causing the alarm over the door to go off.

She wore a navy blue, long-sleeved dress that cut off just below the breast that flowed down softly to her shins. There was nothing very remarkable about it, no ornate decorations or intricate sewing techniques. But, to Jack she looked remarkable in it; that was exactly the kind of clothing that he admired on a lady. Perhaps, because that was how Sue tended to dress, plain and simple, but making plain and simple look wonderful. Her small bump was just visible under the soft cotton material when she turned to the side a bit to look in the mirror herself and Jack felt the familiar lump in his throat rise again.

BEAUTIFUL, he signed, catching her eye in the mirror.

Sue smiled at his reflection a little shyly and returned to the dressing room without a reply. Changing out of the dress and back into her secondhand pink maternity turtleneck sweater and blue jeans, she did not even bother trying to fasten the pants around her firm but swollen belly. She needed something for church now that she doubted that her other ones would fit, why not?

Arranging the dress back onto its hanger, Sue gathered it and another dress identical to it, but in a deep red, and the several pairs of maternity jeans and trousers that she had selected and exited the dressing room.

DONE, she signed with a sigh. YOU READY GO?

YOU NO LIKE SHOP MUCH, DO YOU? Jack smiled, taking the clothes out of her arms and draping them over the side of the shopping buggy he had employed in a attempt to save some semblance of his manhood as he sat around in a department store solely dedicated to maternity-wear.

NO, Sue laughed. IT TOO MUCH TROUBLE. TOO EXPENSIVE. LUCY LIKE TO SHOP. USUALLY I ONLY GO WHEN SHE GO.

LIKE YOU TELL ME YEARS AGO IN NEW YORK, Jack recalled, pushing the cart up to another register desk across the store to keep Sue away from the watching agent, lest she should recognize him. VERY PRACTICAL. COMMON SENSE THINKING.

YES, Sue agreed, resting her hand on the handle of the cart and feeling a warm tingling as Jack enveloped her fingers with his over the bar.

When they reached the register, Sue stepped into line and Jack stood off to the side a bit to avoid the crowded train of expecting mothers-to-be. He noticed a few others of the male sex waiting around but made no real contact with any of them other than an acknowledging nod.

Standing patiently, Jack's mind began to wander back to his heated arguement with Myles and all of his former confusion returned. He felt guilty for losing it the way that he had, but nothing that Myles had said made any sense to him. Was that really what the man that he had learned to call his friend thought of him? Then another thought hit Jack, even harder. Was that what the team thought of him?

Jack was aware that they were doubtful of his decision, but he was determined that he was making the right one. Sue needed protection; but Sue needed security, too, and that was something that telling her about Hernandez would strip away, perhaps forever if they did not catch him. He watched her standing quietly in the line of chattering women as his thoughts rambled on. He hated lying to her...he hated that he was hiding something so important from her...but he would hate himself even more if he knew that he had ripped away every shred of comfort that Sue had managed to find.

Despite the obvious uncertainty among the members of the team, he had always counted on them at least being supportive. But now the seed of doubt was in his mind and he could feel it eating him from the inside out. It dawned on him, as it never had before, that he had not bothered to ask their opinions. He knew Myles's, of course; but what did Bobby and Demetrius really think? What did Lucy and Tara, Sue's two best friends in the world, think of his choices that was determining Sue's safety?

All the thoughts swirling around in his head threatened to overwhelm him as the panic and worry began to set in. They were his friends, his family, his team...his life. How, on earth, was he to get them to understand his reasoning when he did not even fully understand why his gut was telling him that this was the best path?

"Agent Hudson?" a male voice asked suddenly, causing Jack to turn around after a moment of silent contemplation.

"Yes?" Jack asked, not sure how to reply to the one recognizing him as an agent; certainly they were with surveillance, but why were they talking to him?

When Jack turned, he immediately recognized the young man from one by his blonde hair and familiar features.

"John Thompson," Jack stated simply, recieving the hand that Thompson offered to him in a firm handshake, feeling completely taken by the confusion of seeing someone he knew to be a prisoner of the federal government out and about around the streets and public places of Washington D.C.. "What..."

"It's all thanks to you, actually," Thompson answered Jack flustered and incompleted question with a brilliant smile. Jack could more sense than see Sue's gaze on him and he met her eyes over Thompson's shoulder briefly. "They told me that you seemed to think that I had been given an unfair trial. The grand jury decided to grant me an appeal. New trial, new jury, new lawyer, new judge."

"So you got off for the murder?" Jack asked, choosing his words carefully, aware of Sue's eyes on him. He needed to get Thompson out of her view before Hernandez came up, as he had a feeling it would.

"Not entirely," Thompson answered, thankfully switching positions as though he were trying to speak conspiratorally, too. He stepped in front of Jack, his back to the line at the register. Giving a backward jerk of his head, he continued. "The young brown-headed one is my little sister. I told her I got off as long as I agreed to help with a big community thing in Tallahassee, Florida for a few years. I think she believed me. They just gave me a postponed sentence for one year, then I serve my seven that they sentenced me to for a crime-of-passion."

"Well," Jack sighed, genuinely surprised by this news but happy for the young man, whose fate was now much brighter. "That's a positive turn-around of the bureaucratic system, if I ever saw one. It seems like our little system came through after all. Good for you."

"Thanks," John said again, a grin on his face as he looked back at the young girl in line, wearing a pair of jeans and black maternity peacoat, a timid but sweet smile on her face in return. "I know where credit is due...I just never really thought that I would have this opportunity. I have you to thank for this for even taking the time to talk to the Attorney General...even though you had so much going on with your friend and that Hernandez guy."

Jack nodded his head in silence, feeling awkward at the man's blunt appreciation and trying to make sure that Sue would not see his lips as the conversation turned into dangerous territory.

"How's your friend doing, anyway?" John asked, true concern etched in his eyes. "That was such a horrible thing to happen. I told my little sister about it...I actually think that it's what kind of helped her cope as well as she has. I hope she's doing alright."

"She's doing good," Jack answered, meeting Sue's eyes again, but for a whole other reason entirely, this time. He pointed her out to Thompson, making sure that she could not see his lips and noticing her wondering gaze as he indicated her. "Don't mention anything about it, though."

John Thompson turned to follow Jack's wave of direction and Sue looked at Jack questioningly.

WHO? she signed, her brows narrowing.

JOHN THOMPSON, Jack replied, thinking it best not to test her patience at being pointed out in public. MEET HIM.

Sue nodded in agreement and Jack led Thompson over to the line. Taking Sue's elbow gently, he pulled her to the back of the line where Thompson's younger sister stood, seeming very confused.

"Sue, I want you to meet John Thompson and his sister...," Jack began to introduce.

"Eve...Evelyn...but I call her Eve," Thompson finished for Jack.

"It's nice to meet you," Sue said and signed.

Jack noticed the confused expressions at her hand motions and Sue obviously noticed them too.

"Oh, I'm deaf," Sue explained, but their bewildered expressions only deepened a fraction. "But I can read your lips if you look at me. I just sign by habit, sometimes; sometimes, I forget. My name is Sue Thomas."

"Eve, this is the woman that I told you about," John said quietly to his sister, clearly a bit uncomfortable.

Then the young Evelyn made a move that even Jack had not expected. She took Sue by the arm and pulled her off to the side in an area of rows of clothing racks. Jack could see them talking but he got the distinct feeling that the teenage girl was only moving her lips to avoid eavesdropping. He and Thompson watched curiously as the two ladies conversed, Jack growing nervous that he could not sway the topic of the conversation, if need be. But a moment later, he saw Sue pull a pen and her small notebook that she always kept with her out of her purse and scribble something down. Tearing the sheet out, she handed it to the young girl. A shaky smile came over the girl's face and she pulled Sue into a tight hug, which she returned caringly.

When they walked back over to the quickly dwindling line, Jack could see unshed tears in both of their eyes. After that, the conversation stay general until Sue paid and they moved to take their leave.

"It was nice to meet you John and Evelyn," Sue said, giving Evelyn one last quick hug.

"You too," John said, shaking Jack's hand for a final time. "Take care of yourselves."

"And yourself," Jack replied, then guided Sue away, carrying her shopping bag in one arm as his other hand rested on the small of her back.

"So what was that about?" Jack asked, nodding his head backward once he had Sue's attention.

"I don't know what she's knows about what happened, or how she knows it, but she said that I really helped her...even though I am clueless," Sue explained, looking to Jack with her moistened eyes. "But I'm kind of glad, that she knows, in a way. I gave her my number...in case she ever wanted to call and talk."

Jack silently, giving her hand a small squeeze. He did not know exactly what this would lead to, in regards to Hernandez, and that scared him. But he could not help but feel his heart warm at the thought of Sue's loving warmth...even to this young stranger.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: Does not belong to me.**

**I just wanted to say thanks again for the reviews and for those who are still reading this. **

"Hey," Jack said into the phone, wishing that his voice sounded stronger and less uncertain than it did. "Myles, it's Jack. Ummm...I just think we need to talk. Uh...just...give me a call when you get this messege. Alright, man, I guess I'll talk to you then. Bye."

Jack snapped the phone shut, not entirely sure if he was grateful for the voicemail or not. He continued his pacing of the doctor's office waiting room, raking his fingers through his hair, anxious for so many different reasons.

So many things seemed to keep happening, back to back, that was just making all of this so much harder. Myles was his friend; even though he had no idea why Myles would say the things he did, even though they still infuriated him, he did not want to fight with Myles. He knew that he was already in for it when he went back to work with Garrett and the higher-ups, the last thing that he wanted to worry about was the team that had become his family being angry with him. Now, in addition to everything, there was always the danger that Evelyn Thompson had been told the details about Hernandez and they would make their way to Sue. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but his job was to be paranoid to protect people, why would he let up in the least when it was the woman that he loved that needed the caution.

"Jack." The kind-faced, middle aged nurse that he had now become familiar with from their many doctor's visits came up to him. "Sue asked me to tell you that she would like for you to come in there with her. Regular room."

Jack nodded his understanding and patted the older lady's shoulder before departing from the waiting room for the examination room where he knew that Sue would be. He knocked on the door softly and waited for the doctor's permission to enter, which came immediately.

"Come in, come in," the doctor said, waving his hand in a come-hither motion. "We're just about to do the ultrasound. As I told Ms. Thomas, we may be able to see the sex of the baby...if the one decides to cooperate with us."

Jack came in immediately and slid the extra chair to Sue's side on the opposite side of the bed from the doctor and the ultrasound machine. Looking down at Sue where she lay on the table, he could see the happiness, nervousness, and something akin to fear in her eyes, all passing over each other like waves in the sea. He took her hand and squeezed it in his own then let it rest beside her on the table with his other hand covering them both.

"Alright, Ms. Thomas," the doctor said, tapping Sue on the arm. "This is going to be cold and maybe a little uncomfortable, but it we'll be done soon."

"That's fine," Sue answered as the doctor lifted her sweater to expose her stomach. "I don't mind."

The doctor grabbed a tube from the side table and squeezed a large amount of the clear blue ultrasound jelly onto her belly. Taking the small handpiece, he began to spread the substance around and all three pairs of eyes went to the screen. The mass of blurred blacks, greys, and whites made little sense to Jack, but seemed to make a lot of sense to the doctor. Then, a large white mass in the center of the screen seemed to take some shape and Jack recognized it for what it was.

"That's the baby?" Jack asked uncertainly, a strange fluttering in his stomach reaching into his chest and he rubbed Sue's hand again with his own.

"Yes," the doctor said, then pointed to a section on the screen. He began to show them all of the different parts and the picture of the little being inside of Sue began to make more and more sense. "This, right here, is the head. You can see right here that the limbs are starting to grow more. And look...right there in the corner..."

Jack looked closely and could see Sue watching the doctor's pointing finger too, her eyes going between he doctor's lips and the screen. Jack thought that he knew what the form was, but was not entirely sure.

"Congratulations, Ms. Thomas," the doctor said with a smile, looking directly at Sue. "You're going to have a son."


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**And thanks to JaS2g for the review. Reviews are always encouraging, though I have to admit that I've been a little blocked. And thanks to those who read and didn't review, it's still nice. **

Jack knocked Sue's bedroom door, causing it swing open slightly from its ajar position. Glancing in, he saw Levi gently paw at Sue's leg as she finished pulling her t-shirt down her torso, turning to look at him.

"Hi," Sue said a little shyly, but a small smile pulled at her lips sweetly.

Jack took this as ample permission to enter and crossed the room to where she stood. He felt a small knot in his chest when he stepped up to her and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear and leaned his forehead down against hers.

"Lucy will be here any minute and Bobby and me should be back from the hockey game around nine," Jack said, signing the words 'game' and 'nine' for clarity.

"Ok," Sue said and signed, nodding her head, her smile growing slowly. "Should I cook something for when you get back?"

"No...we'll probably grab something at the game," Jack answered, bending over slightly to pat the now restless Levi as he heard a knock at the door.

"Door. Lucy," he continued to Sue's confused look as he began to move away and she smiled her understanding. Then a thought struck him and he retreated quickly, pulling her gently to him and kissing her tenderly. When she looked back up at him, she ran hand through her hair as if trying to occupy it and Jack knew that he had her slightly flustered. "Or, I could've waited to do that after Lucy was in the room."

"That would be interesting," Sue agreed, reclaiming her composure and following him into the hallway to answer the door.

Pulling the door open revealed a smiling Lucy, her arm laden with a large green bag, stuffed to the rim with items that Jack did not bother to identify. Stepping backwards and holding the door open, Jack wisely avoided Lucy's path to her friend.

"Sue!" Lucy said excitedly, but rather sedated for Lucy-trype-excitement, in Jack's opinion. "Finally, this warden has allowed me some visitation rights!"

"You could have come over anytime that you liked, Lucy," Jack smiled, holding up his hands in a defensive manner.

Lucy turned on him and cast her narrowed gaze on him challengingly and Jack could see Sue smiling at her friend's antics from her view behind her.

"Yeah...and have you monitoring my every move?" Lucy said in false accusation, moving so that Sue could see her lips too. "You probably would have slapped my hand if I just hugged her too tightly."

Jack could not help the laugh that came from her unconsciously true statement and he moved into the kitchen and through to the livingroom. He could hear Sue and Lucy's hurried hellos before they followed him and settled down on the sofa.

Regarding his watch, he grabbed his jacket, anticipating Bobby's habitual promptness when it came to sporting events. "Well, ladies," Jack interrupted their signed conversation, waving his hand a little for Sue's attention before speaking. "I should really be going now...we all know how much you would miss me if Bobby killed me for making us late for a Capitals' game. Don't get to out of hand...it would reflect poorly on the F.B.I. if two employees were called on for reckless and disruptive behavior. Also! I have taken the liberty of calling you in chinese food, money is on the counter...just be sure that you know that the sesame chicken is _off limits_."

"Oh, hahaha," Lucy groaned sarcastically, aiming a pillow at Jack's head and firing. "Like we want that heart attack anyway!"

"That's not funny," Jack answered offensively, catching the pillow and pulling on his most serious and offended expression.

However, at the sight of Lucy's shocked face and Sue's mouth falling open a fraction, he could not hold his reserve any longer. A hearty laugh erupted from him and he threw the pillow back at Lucy but accidentally rebounded it off of Lucy's head and hit Sue too. He saw Lucy rise with a dangerous expression and Sue's mouth fell open even farther. But a loud rapping on the door saved him from their humorous fury and he ducked out of Lucy's reach and retreated into the kitchen.

"Yep, there he goes, Jack Hudson, special agent, backing down from a fight with Lucy Dotson," Lucy laughed, dropping the pillow back onto the couch and reclaiming her seat so that Sue could read her lips but loud enough for Jack to hear.

"Smart man," Sue comment with an innocent smile, looking over Lucy's shoulder to Jack watching her briefly in the kitchen.

Jack met her bright eyes once more and he had to restrain the need to give her one last kiss. He swiftly transformed his hand into the sign for I Love You and held it up over Lucy's blind shoulder. Sue's face seemed to soften momentarily and he saw her copy the action with her hand on the back of the sofa and quickly pretend to only be fingering the tassels of the throw.

Patting Levi on the head at the door, he bent down a softly whispered to the dog. "Take care of them for me, eh boy?"

Levi licked his face as though he were promising to do just that and Jack turned to open up the door again when another rap on the door sounded, louder and longer this time.

"I swear, Sparky-boy," Bobby began immediately when Jack opened the door. "If you make us late for the start, I'll kill you with my bare hands and you'll take me to the next game...front row."

"Bobby, we have fourty-five minutes to get there still. Calm down," Jack argued, forcing a smile and a deep breath to settle his worries.

Locking the door behind him, he shook it a little roughly to check it and then turned away down the hall to follow Bobby, leaving Sue without trained protection for the first time since the surfacing of the letter.


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: The only thing that I can really claim is my sanity...and I think that that may even be slipping through my fingertips. Please review anyways though. Thanks.**

**Also, I have a dilemma that I figured someone may be able to help me out with. I have been looking for a Jack and Sue story that I read quite a while back and would like to read again but I can't find it. All I really remember is that it was very good and included Sue and a burning barn. I don't mean to spoil anything for anyone so I tried to be as vague but informative as possible. Please please please let me know if any of you knows what the story may be. And again...thank you! :)**

Sue stepped out of the bathroom to meet Lucy watching her carefully from the hallway. She pulled the damp cloth away from her mouth and tossed it in the dirty towel pile beside the bathroom door.

YOU OK? Lucy signed, rubbing Sue's shoulder kindly with the other hand and walking back into the livingroom with her.

YES, Sue answered, taking her seat on the couch. I FINE. JUST SICK SOMETIMES.

YOU WANT MEDICINE? Lucy asked, beginning to rise from her seat.

NO. Sue stopped her from standing and Lucy settled back down hesitantly. "I feel fine...it just comes over me sometimes. Forget about that though, I want to know about you."

Lucy almost laughed at the question that would have been perfectly normal under most circumstances, but right now it seemed like an effort to reconstruct a bridge. She had gotten married while her best friend was missing. She had carried on with a wedding without her maid of honor...and every moment had felt like it would nearly kill her. Unexpectedly, the tears took control and a sob escaped Lucy and she buried her head in hands.

"Lucy?" she heard Sue say and felt her hands on her shoulders in a moment, pulling her into a comforting hug. "Lucy...what's the matter? You and Kevin are alright, aren't you?"

Lucy did not answer for several long moments, calling back her former reserve. He snatched a couple of tissues from the box on the table and dabbed at her eyes.

"Sue, I'm sorry," Lucy apologized sincerely, looking Sue in the eye finally. "I'm sorry that I did that."

"Did what?" Sue asked, her brows narrowing in confusion and she had to support her swelling stomach with her hand as she turned her position on the couch to face Lucy and pulled a leg up beneath her. "Cry?"

"No," Lucy said and signed with a sigh. "I'm sorry that I got married," Lucy corrected but hurried on when she saw Sue's shocked and anxious expression. "No, no, no...I'm not sorry that I got married to Kevin. I love Kevin and Amanda. I'm just sorry that I got married when I did. I'm sorry that I went on with something like that when you were...you were..."

"Gone," Sue finished for her, saving her best friend the trouble of trying to find a term that she knew would not upset her.

Lucy nodded her head. "It's just...everyone kept telling me that I had to let my life move on. My family kept saying that you don't put your future on hold because of one hold-up. Kevin would have waited, of course, but I guess our families just convinced us. The team was there...Tara and Amanda were my bridesmaids...but we left your spot empty for you."

Sue felt a tear slip over her cheek at her friend's description. "Lucy," Sue said, looking back up at her. "I'm glad that you got married when you had planned to. You're family was right to tell you to. I wouldn't have wanted you to put off a date that you had planned for and looked forward to for over a year." Another sob escaped Lucy and Sue pulled her in for another hug. "Really, Lucy...I'm sorry that it was hard for you. But I honestly would not have wanted you to give up something that you and Kevin had worked so hard for...but I do appreciate the fact that you were thinking about me, even if it was a little more than I would have wished. Jack told me a few days ago when I asked him about the wedding that you were mostly cry the whole time."

"Ha," Lucy gave a faint laugh at the thought, wiping her face again and leaning back against the couch. "I think I had all of the guests a little worried when I couldn't stop crying...but Kevin, my family, and the team understood and I think that they managed to give the rest of the people there a faint idea of what was wrong."

Sue smiled a little bit. She could not pretend that it did not hurt that she had been being held captive and taken brutal advantage of while she was supposed to be at her best friend's wedding. The mere three weeks now seemed like an entire era of her life and she knew that it probably always would. However, when she thought about the 'what if she had waited to get married', she felt her heart sink even lower at the very idea. Sue did not want life to stop going on for the ones that she loved, or anyone else, for that matter. She did not want the earth to stop turning until she was alright again...she did not want the people around her mourn for her, even though it was hard for her to handle by herself.

But she had Jack now; she could see, even if she did not let him know, how much he was hurting from everything. It hurt her heart to know that he was being effected so badly by something beyond his control. He still smiled and laughed with her and she had seen him acting normally while they were at the bullpen Friday and knew that he would seem normal at work tomorrow. It was the constant expression of worry and caution in his eyes everytime he met her eyes, or looked out the window, or opened the front door. She felt as though he were trying to protect her from the world now, almost if by nature or instict. How could she tell him to ignore that and just hold her...no worry, or concern, or careful thoughts, or words?

A light tap on her arm called her attention away and she looked back into Lucy's wide worried eyes. "Sue?" she asked gently, pulling her arm back down onto her lap. "How are you doing?"

Now it was Sue's tears that fell rapidly down her face and she layed her head against Lucy's shoulder, vaguely remembering when she would do the same thing to her mother as a child.

"I'm ok," Sue said honestly, trying to find the best way to make her friend realize her truthfullness. "Really, I am. I just..."

"Just what?" Lucy asked when Sue rested back against the arm of the sofa and looked back at her.

"Lucy," Sue began, deciding that it would be best just to get it out into the open. "I know that the team is worried about me. I appreciate it, I really do...but you don't have to anymore. I'm ok."

The words seemed to pull on a completely new idea for Lucy. She obviously had been very worried about this visit and Sue wanted to put her mind at rest and let her know that she really just wanted to visit like they always did before...comfortably and easily.

"Sue," Lucy began again, looking down but keeping her lips in Sue's view. "We don't really know what happened...other than the obvious. Jack wouldn't and won't tell us anything...he said that it isn't his place. We all love you, Sue...I know that it's been torture for me, not being able to see you and talk to you like we always have. I don't know what the rest of the team thinks...but Tara is upset and misses you and the guys really only talk to each other."

"Well, I don't want anyone worrying about me anymore," Sue stated matter-of-factly, pulling on a shaky smile in attempt to lighten the mood. "I'm going to talk to everyone tomorrow. If you don't mind...I would rather just tell the story once."

I WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW, Lucy signed and then Sue saw her head jerk backwards before turning back around. SAVED BY BELL. CHINESE HERE.

Sue smiled happily again, glad that Lucy seemed to take her words to heart and was acting like her old self again. She slowly stood from her place on the couch and followed Lucy into the kitchen.

"Aha! It seems that old 'Sparky-boy' really came through this time," Lucy said, coming back into the kitchen after paying the delivery boy and locking the front door behind him. She set the bag on the counter and started sorting through the small white cartons. "We have the steamed veggies and white rice for me...Jack's sesame chicken and fried rice myocardial infarction for him...and chicken with broccoli and fried rice for you. Huh...he must have gotten the eggrolls, too."

"Actually, I think those are mine," Sue confessed with a small smile. "I know I usually don't like them...but I woke up this morning really wanting some. I guess he remembered."

Lucy smiled and shook her head, obviously trying to hide her laugh.

**Kind of a filler, but they needed thier best-friend-moment to talk. Please review. Thank you**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I can't claim what is not mine...mostly because federal law won't permit me. **

**Also...Awwww! Thank you for the reviews mo9526, KJcupcake2nd, and JaS2g; you guys were really really nice. I'm glad that people seem to be enjoying this story. **

**Ok, now that I've kind of dragged on a bit, things will start to pick up soon. Please, just don't give up on me and stop reading...I'm getting to where I need to be. I just tend to take a little time on the details before getting there! :) Thank you and please please please review! **

**Note: This part of the story is picking up a little more than five months later. **

Jack pulled open the closet door of his room and pulled down an old shoe box from the high shelf within. Opening it up slowly, he observed the significant pile of several envelopes and sheets of paper. All were addressed to Sue; none included a return address...all were simply labeled from the The Father.

Jack Hudson could hear the noise in the background of Sue moving about the apartment; it seemed to form his own personal genre of background music...the sounds that he loved to hear. But even listening to the very object of his devoted affections could not quell the raging emotions inside of him now.

They had been there...for months and months...slowly growing larger and larger with every letter. He had begun to make excuses in order to make sure that he checked the mail. He had even went to the extent of giving their permanent SOG-tailer an extra key to the P.O. box, for the odd occasion that Sue did check the mail, he could make a quick call and any mysterious letters could be removed for his scrutiny.

It almost frightened even himself sometimes...it was beginning to dawn on him that Hernandez had become his obsession. Sue was his obsession of everything good and lovely, and right. But Hernandez...Hernandez was his dark obsession; the ever-present shadow in his mind that held him back and kept him from moving forward. Hernandez was not giving up. He knew that Sue was not recieving his warnings...the letters from The Father were now speaking to him personally, even if they still contained Sue's name on the mailing address.

Hernandez was taunting him...taunting him with the woman that he loved and the unborn child that Jack could feel himself growing possessive of.

As his thoughts turned to Sue's fetal son, the thoughts in his own mind became even more chaotic. Glancing through the crack of his door and looking into the livingroom, he watched Sue as she sat on the floor awkwardly, her swollen, perfectly oval-shaped belly sitting low on her lap as she folded clothes. His heart melted a little in his chest and his dark thoughts of hatred and anger took a sharp turn to something much different.

He loved Sue. Sue was his heart, soul, and world now...and he loved her child. The feelings that had invaded his subconscious so many months ago, standing in the kitchen, uncomfortable and stiff from sleeping on the hard floor with Sue, had only grown until he could no longer control them. They no longer made sense, even to him. All he knew was that he loved Sue and he loved the child that she carried...he would protect them at all costs...even with his own life.

He slowly turned back to the cardboard box in his hand. These letters. This man was the reason that he could not rest; the reason that he had not rested for month after long month. He was the one obsticle standing in the way of Jack being what he wanted to be for Sue. They had been living together for eight months, had been a couple for at least five, and still Jack could not even make love to her. Not that he did not want to or she had not allowed him the occasional moment of indiscretion...but he could not seem to push it away from his mind. He did not want to hurt Sue the way that they had.

To make everything worse, he knew that it upset Sue. Honestly, he understood why she would be upset. How could he truly let her know just how beautiful and enticing and intoxicating she was if he could not even bring himself to really touch her because every time that he did, his mind was overtaken by the thoughts and images that Hernandez kept writing about in his letters...the thoughts and images that kep torturing Jack worse than anything else ever could?

Jack opened up the latest letter that he had found in the mail box not ten minutes ago. Again, he pulled the folded sheet of unlined paper out of the envelope addressed to Sue.

_Special Agent Jackson Hudson,_

_ You may consider this a courtesy note, but we both know that the woman carrying __my __child will never see it, if you can help it. I have warned you time and time again over the past several months and the time is getting close. Our dear little Miss Thomas will soon deliver the child that she stole from me...the child that I graced her with, though she begged me not to._

_ Perhaps, you already now this, but I have my sources, even in your world. I cannot describe to you the pride I felt when I learned that I shall have a son very soon. It is my child, Jack Hudson. Never attempt to keep a man from his child. In my family, blood means everything and it is my blood that is flowing through his veins. I __will __have my son, Jack Hudson._

_ Sincerely,_

_ The Father_

_P.S.-I do not believe that I have remembered to tell you this interesting little tidbit. There were several times when Susan Thomas begged for you...but there were also many time when she begged for me to kill her._

His teeth clenched against his will as Jack shoved the letter back into the envelope and buried it deep into the shoe box.

It was not enough. For months, ever since Garrett had classified the case as cold but granted him an SOG shadow for Sue, Jack had been able to enlist Bobby and Demetrius's help in continueing with the investigation off the record. But it was not enough! No matter what they accomplished...no matter how many of Hernandez's operations they shut down, no matter how many of his men they put away for their crimes, they could never seem to get their grips on Hernandez.

He was there; Jack could feel him, sickeningly close, but just out of his reach. Not a week ago, the SOG shadow, Gaines, had spotted him in the grocery store, mere feet away from where Sue stood. Luckily, Gaines had improvised and pretended to bump into her and helped to gather up all of her ruined produce. Jack could only imagine the disgustingly smug look on Hernandez's face; he knew where they were and what they were doing. Though he hated it to the very core, Jack could not help but to feel as though they were fish in a bowl and every once in a while, Hernandez liked to tap loudly on the glass.

"Jack," Sue's voice called him back to his present reality and he quickly stowed the shoebox away behind a stack of jeans on its shelf. "Honey...I need help off the floor, please."

Shutting the closet door behind him, Jack left the darkened quarters of his room and joined Sue in the brightly lit livingroom, lit even more by her brilliant smile. If only she knew what he did. If only she knew about the horrors that were unfolding right beneath her feet that he had kept her blind to. But Jack shuddered at the very thought of it and pushed the thought from his mind, choosing to enjoy his Sue, for the moment, instead.

"Come here, you," Jack said slyly, a cocky smile sneaking onto his lips, unaware to even him.

He stooped down and lifted Sue up easily from the floor, taking special care to make sure that she had maintained her balance before releasing her.

"You're going to be late for work," Sue warned, straightening his tie and pressing any stray wrinkle from his collar with her fingertips. "Just because I'm on maternity leave doesn't mean that you get to be."

Jack pulled her closer to him, manuevering himself to stand as close to her as her growing baby would allow without kicking both his mother and him. Sue's soft hazel eyes looked up at him expectantly and he lowered his lips to hers, capturing her in an immediately passionate kiss. Time had become a relative term when it came to the time that they spent holding each other and Jack would have more than like to ignore it. Sue's soft lips against his as he held both her with one hand and the baby with the other giving him a far more heady feeling than any alcohol had ever been able. Relunctantly, he pulled away, but held her forehead against his gently with a hand.

YOU BEAUTIFUL, Jack signed, relishing in the feeling of her soft breath on his chin as she breathed a little hard from their kissing.

"You're going to be late," Sue cautioned again, her reserve changing slightly and Jack knew that they were going back to the discomfort that had become a part of their life together that he hated.

"I don't care," Jack said suddenly, obviously catching Sue by surprise. "I don't care until I see you smile."

Sue smiled softly, but it was not what Jack was looking for.

"No," Jack said, his tone becoming sad, knowing that he had probably caused her pain by not touching her...by not making love to her the way that he so desire to. He took her face in his hands tenderly, forcing her to look at him; he was going to make this better. "Understand that, Sue. You are a beautiful, lovely, enticing, young woman...and you're driving me crazy."

"Jack, you don't...," Sue began to argue, faking another smile but Jack held her arms to keep her from backing away from him.

"Sue," Jack began again. "I mean it. Don't you ever think what I know that you're thinking now. You are beautiful. But you deserve better than what we almost had last night...you are a lady and you deserve to be made love to by your husband. I want to do things right for you, Sue. Don't you want that?"

Sue eyes were finally fixed on his, wide-eyed and innocent. He could see a bit of moisture forming in her eyes but the smile that he had been seeking passed over her face before she buried her face into his shoulder again, her swollen maternal stomach forming to his solid one. He kissed her hair quickly and then tipped her chin up to kiss her lips.

"I have to go," he said after a moment with a mischevious smile when she looked at him, quickly turning and grabbing his coat off of the sofa. "I'm going to be late."

He heard Sue laugh lightly as he shut the door behind him, pulling out his phone and locking both locks of the door securely.

"Yeah, Gaines," Jack said into the phone in his usual morning ritual. "I'm leaving for work. Call me if anything goes wrong...Yeah...yeah, thanks, man. Bye."


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, but I can lay claim to my little usage of them! :)**

**Also, thanks to mo9526 for the kind review (A/N: Jack is sweet in the show) and I hope that anyone reading this story is enjoying reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it. **

Jack leaned against him black car in he parking garage, waiting for Bobby when he saw him pulling up. Bobby's car was definately speeding through the 10mph parking garage, but Jack stood firmly in his place when the car approached him quickly, knowing that Bobby would stop it just in time, as usual.

"You're going to get yourself killed like that someday, mate," Bobby cautioned him, cutting the ignition and crawling out of the car.

"Eh...I figure hanging around you for so long will kill me sooner or later, anyway. Why not by your horrible driving? At least I know you'll feel bad," Jack shrugged as Bobby came even with them and they headed toward the elevator, Bobby's car honking loudly when he pressed the remote lock button.

"I most certainly would not," Bobby argued, punching the up button on the elevator. "I would bask in the glory that would be given me for such a wonderful civil service. Besides, I seem to recall you taking the responsibility of a young blonde sheila, her canine bodyguard, and now a little buggar."

Jack met Bobby's gaze with a half smile, thinking back on how much progress she had really made with everything. The day before had been her last day before her long stretch of maternity leave, but even Jack had to admit that it had been a very good one. He was so proud of her. Over the past five or six months, ever since she had returned, she had done so well. She had coped and Jack acknowledged the fact that everything actually seemed to be exactly as they had always been...except for the changes in their own relationship and the now-normal hostilities between Myles and the rest of the team.

"When's she due, again?" Bobby asked, stepping into the elevator and turning for Jack's reply as he followed. "She's been looking like she's about to pop. I hope you noticed; I've been taking extra care not to throw any more pens at her...even when she starts the pen war!"

Jack shook his head humorously, ignoring Bobby's joke. "About two or three weeks," Jack breathed, letting out some of the disbelief hidden within himself. "Can you believe that she's already thirty-four weeks pregnant?"

"Yeah," Bobby agreed as the elevator began its ascent. "She's giving Tara a run for her money. Two weeks to go and only just now taking off of work. She about scared the life out of me yesturday...that was a terrible joke to play. Pretending to go into labor...not enough time to get to the hospital my left toe!"

Jack laughed, remembering Sue's prank that she pulled, calling it her last hoorah for the next several months. Yes...Sue and everything else was back to normal. Yet, things still seemed so different.

"There was another letter this morning," Jack announced just as the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened, the letter coming to mind. "It said 'the time is getting close'. Bobby...I just don't even really know what to do anymore. We have to get her to a secured area...I'm going to have to tell her."

Bobby nodded his head understandingly. "How do you think she's going to take it?" Bobby asked, knowing what would be Jack's major concern next to the obvious.

"I honestly don't know," Jack answered as they reached the doorway of the bullpen to see their team already settling down inside. He paused before going in. "But I have to do it...even if she hates me for the rest of her life when she finds out."

As Jack crossed to his desk, his mind began to ponder on his own statement. What would life be like if Sue truly hated him? No. He did not want to think about that. He did not want to think about such a fate unless he had to...unless it bacame his fate.

"Special Agent Jack Hudson, sir! Reporting for duty, sir!" came a suddenly cheery voice, disrupting Jack's silent brooding and he snapped his head up.

The sight that met his eyes left him with no choice but to laugh. There, directly in front of his desk, stood Tara, garbed in her usual work trousers and shirt. However, the only unusual thing about her attire was the large plastic water gun that hung strapped to her belt.

"Tara...what are you doing?" Jack asked through his laughter and the roaring laughing of the rest of the team, save Myles.

"Well," Tara said, unstrapping the gun from her side and bringing it to rest on her shoulder as if in a salute march. "Stanley says that now that little Cara will be tagging along soon and he will have twice as much worrying to do, I should have a gun twice the size. With your approval, of course, dear fearless leader."

"Oh, I see," Jack played along, taking his seat and booting up his computer. "In that case, I grant you my permission to possess such a weapon in this building. Just promise me that you won't flip out on Randy...I know that he's a pest, but, unfortunately, he's the federal government's pest."

"Uh! Well what's the fun in this, then?" Tara demanded, dropping the empty water gun on the floor by Jack's chair and striding over to her desk in a huff as the mirth in the room calmed down. Moving her mouse to make the computer screen appear, she finally looked back at him. "Well, thanks for the permission, anyways, young master."

It was at this moment that Myles decided to pipe up into the conversation, potentially bringing all jokes and kidding to a halt.

"Yes, it seems that we all need Jack's approval for every move that we make now, doesn't it?" Myles said sarcastically, standing from his desk and crossing to the coffee machine, obviously unable to hold his tongue any longer. "Oh, Agent Hudson, may I please pour myself some coffee? I don't want to offend you. Also...one other thing, may I check my mail this afternoon?"

"Myles," Demetrius sighed from his place behind Sue's vacant desk. "Give a rest already. We've been over this."

"No," Myles argued. "You've been over this. Don't get angry with me for being Thomas's last defender of her rights! Why is it that Jack is being completely underhanded with Sue...lying to her just as much as he breathes, and I'm the only one angry about this?"

"Because you're the only one stupid enough not to see why he's doing it!" Lucy suddenly stood from her desk, matching Myles's angry tone. "You don't think that it's killing all of us to lie to her constantly? She's our friend and we hate it just as much as you do! Jack is doing what he thinks is best for Sue...which is more than you'll ever be able to say that you've ever done for anyone else!"

"Forget it, Luce," Jack tried to calm her through gritted teeth, willing himself not to lose his temper with Myles again, as he had so often over the past months when Sue was absent. "Just forget it."

"That's exactly what I mean!" Myles exclaimed, seeming to lose his temper all over again and a large amount of coffee sloshed from his cup, all over Bobby's paper work. "You're pathetic, Jack! All of those letters that Hernandez has sent and you're still willing to risk her life just to keep things the way you want them to be! If Sue gets killed...or worse...again; that's on you!"

"That's enough!" a loud voice suddenly bellowed, causing both Jack and Bobby that had risen from their seats in anger to freeze.

Looking to the doorway, Jack saw Garrett striding into the bullpen, his most furious expression well in place.

"Leland," he continued, approaching Myles, his voice low and threatening. "Remember your place. Jack's decisions are Jack's decisions to make; and he has my approval. Are you questioning the authority of your team leader and team director?"

Myles did not say a word, but instead turned back and took his seat in silence, casting a glare of loathing at Jack.

"Now," Garrett continued, turning back to the group at large, but his eyes met Jack's and a sudden feeling of horrid foreboding fell over Jack like a heavy blanket. "I have an actual announcement to make. I want everyone to remain calm and handle this professionally. Demetrius Gans...I'm turning over the position of lead agent on this case to you."

Jack saw Demetrius nod his head in understanding out of his peripheral vision though his eyes never left Garrett's face. He could feel the sudden tension in the whole room as they waited for Garrett to continue. Something was wrong. Something had to be for Garrett to be talking this way.

Jack gritted his teeth and contracted every muscle in his body, preparing himself for whatever was coming. He could see the expressions in Garrett's eyes that he saw in everyone else's...worry...fear. Finally, Garrett continued.

"I just got a call from metro," Garrett said carefully, driving Jack up the wall with his hesitation. "Agent Darius Gaines was found dead in the hallway just outside of Sue's apartment. He was shot; one bullet to the head."

"No! No, no, no!" Lucy suddenly wailed and Jack felt his chest being torn into with a butcher's knife as he watched the woman crumple into Tara's arms and they both sank to the floor beside the doorway.

"They investigated the apartment after that," Garrett went on, clearly numbing himself to the desperation of his top team. " Levi was locked in the bathroom...someone stabbed him with a tranquilizer shot; he's at his vet now. There was a lot of blood around...and Agent Thomas is nowhere to be found. She's gone."

Jack could feel the violent tremors corsing throughout his body. He could hear the loud shouts of curses and swears coming from Bobby as he stomped around in his blind rage, shouting that it was not true. Myles merely sat at his desk, his face the picture of ghostly shock. In his side vision, he witnessed Demetrius sink to his knees on the floor; he could hear him weeping as a shaky prayer was sent to heaven, begging for Sue.

"Jack," Garrett went on, too quietly for anyone but himself to hear as he approached him and laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "They also found something else. They said that there was a certain area of the apartment...a storage room or something."

"The spare bedroom," Jack concurred frostily...numbly.

He could not feel himself move. He could not feel his limbs. He could not feel anything but the agonizing pain of the knife in his throat and the unbearable nausious sensation.

"Jack," Garrett pressed on, his face becoming paler and paler with every word. "Hernandez was there the whole time. He was living in the corner of that room behind a bunch of boxes. They said that it looked like he had made a nest...forensics said that he must have been living there for months. His DNA was all over the walls around it and some sheets and food packaging."

Living there? How?

The sick feeling overtook Jack and he could no longer stand, no longer support himself. The weakness of his body overwhelmed him and he sank to his knees on the floor, as well. Hastily grabbing the garbage bin beside his desk, he just managed to make it before he became wretchedly sick.


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: It's not mine.**

**Now I offer my thanks to JaS2g, cheliosfan, KJcupcake2nd, and mo9526 for your reviews and I hope your still interested and enjoying this story. Pretty please review! :) Please?**

Sue turned away when she saw the door close behind Jack, smiling to herself. She could not describe the warm tingles that Jack had sent throughout her body, but they warmed her and raised chill bumps at the same time.

Bending down slowly for a stack of her clothes, she felt the baby inside of her give a kick, causing her breath to catch in her throat. Holding the stack against her hip with one hand, she rested her other hand tenderly on the place where her baby's foot had been. She formed the sign for I Love You and pressed it to her belly. It had become a habit. Perhaps it was silly, but Sue did not care. She wanted her baby to know from the very beginning that he was loved. She had heard that some women talked to their babies during pregnancy because the baby could feel, or sense, whichever one, the presence of their mother. Whether it was true or not, Sue still thought it a lovely and precious connection between mother and child.

But speaking was not natural to Sue. She had tried talking to him...but it just did not have the same affect as signing to him did. She did not know if it even made sense, but signing was natural to her. Like hearing women found themselves talking to their unborn babies, Sue found herself signing to her unborn baby, more often unconsiously than she would have ever imagined.

THAT OK, she signed with a smile, her hand still resting against her belly as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom. YOU UNDERSTAND. YOU NO CARE.

When she pushed open her bedroom door, she found Levi lying lazily at the end of her bed on his back, belly up. He turned his head toward her pathetically when he heard her enter and Sue stopped, putting a hand on her hip.

"So...you're deciding to lay down on the job, is that it?" Sue demanded incredulously but moved on toward the dresser while Levi flipped onto all fours playfully, coming up to her and nudging her. "You do realize that I'm going to have to dock your pay a few chicken-treats, don't you?"

But Levi did not appear to realize that, at all, and led the way back into the livingroom. Grabbing another stack of clothing, Sue turned back towards Jack's room, the heavy load of jeans wrapped in her arms. Pushing the door open with her foot, she moved toward the closet and managed to open that door, as well, without losing her burden.

"Ugh, Jack," she moaned with a small sense of resignation, looking up at the high shelf where he insisted his pants should belong. "You stubborn man."

Dropping the pants on the bed, she ventured to the bathroom where she kept a small standing stool and went through the tedious pains of getting herself low enough to reach it without falling over. What seemed like an eternity later, she finally succeeded and returned to Jack's room, signing and talking to Levi the entire time as he remained at her side.

"He's starting to become more trouble than he's worth, isn't he?" Sue joked, laughing when Levi grumbled and covered his nose with a paw. She patted the dog on the head, dropping the stool down by the closet and flipping it over to the right position with her foot. "You're right, Levi. I'm starting to get a little attacted to him, too."

_A little attacted_, Sue thought to herself. _That's an understatement. _

Stepping onto the stool, Sue did her utmost and finally managed to shove the jeans up onto the shelf with Jack's other jeans and jogging pants. Shifting the piles around to arrange them safely from falling, another object suddenly dropped to the floor, startling Sue until she looked down. It was just a shoe box of papers...how had that scared her in the first place? Laughing at herself, Sue managed to stoop down again and began gathering the papers back into a pile.

Retrieving the box and struggling to an upright position, Sue moved to replace the papers in their home, until the brief sight of her name caught her eye. A feeling of curiousity overtook her mind as she did a double take and stared down at her name and address on the top envelope. Moving to the bed, she sat the box on the bed and sat down beside it.

Should she snoop? Of course not. She could trust Jack and she would not doubt that for a moment. Reaching for the box to replace them, she hesitated again. Why was it addressed to her? If it was just something that Jack had scribbled, or what not, he would not have addressed it...he lived with her. Slowly, she flipped the envelope on top to the back of the pile and looked down at the next. It was still her name and address on that one...and the next one...and the next one...and the next one. All of them. The entire stack of letters was addressed to her...but, on closer observation, she could tell that it was not in Jack's writing.

"What on earth?" Sue asked to no one in particular, seeing Levi roam out of the room through the corner of her eye.

She pulled the letter out of the envelope that had been at the very bottom of the pile. The handwriting was a messy scrawl, nothing like Jack's neat, if hurried, writing. Tugging the folds open, she slowly read the first letter; the first thing that she noticed was that it was dated from months ago.

_My Dear Whore,_

This mere beginning had Sue's attention and a terrible feeling of dread filled up every fiber of her being.

_ I am certain that you will remember me. It was I that saved you from my hungry wolves for little payment in return. I must admit, you were beautiful even when you were obviously at your worst. I hope that you do not miss me too much, I can have that effect on some women._

_ I know that you are carrying my child. I made sure of it. But I did not expect you to leave so soon. I only wish to pay you the courtesy of informing you that, ever since I was a child, family come first and foremost in my family. We do not lose our flesh and our blood. We fight for it, to have it. I offer you my civil warning now._

_ The child that you carry is mine. You did not wish to have it because I had to force you. You are merely the whore that I needed to bring it into this earth. It is, in no way, yours and I will have what is mine. You may submit willingly this time, as you refused to do before, or I may force you again, as I did before. _

_ Remember, I can see you. _

_ Sincerely,_

_ The Father_

_P.S. Please tell your black-headed friend, Jack Hudson, to stop fondling my child inside your stomach._

Sue felt the bile rise up in stomach and knew that she would be sick soon. Fear, anger, and desperation seemed to make a sickening cocktail inside of her. Swallowing down the feelings, she pressed on and opened up another letter at random.

_Dear Agent Hudson,_

_ It seems that the game is over. Sue is not recieving the letters from the father of her child. But do not fret. She recieved a great deal more from me when I_...

_Do tell me, do you really think that having a bureaucratically trained shadow following Sue around everywhere will protect her. I am always there Jack. I am always right there, ready to grab her whenever I choose._

Sue tossed this one aside, feeling her heart beating wildly in her chest with every word. She snatched open another.

_Do not try my patience Jack Hudson. I will not tolerate you touching the mother of my child. When I... She became mine. She is mine and everytime you touch her, you may as well be raping her too. Do not touch my child. Do not touch the one that I chose to carry him._

_I can see you, everything you do. I'm there._

"Oh, God! Please, God," Sue cried, covering her mouth with a hand as the horror hit her like a wave. "Please, God, no!"

The tremendous emotions of terror and realization broke Sue to the very core. Standing far more quickly than she should have, Sue threw the mound of papers away from her as though their very presence were scorching her. How could he? How could he be out? Escaped? How could Jack do this to her? How could he hide this from her?

Sue ran out of the room, trying desperately not to get sick. Once she made it to the kitchen, she failed miserable and found herself clinging to the trashcan and her baby desperately. Cold sweat invaded her body and she shivered from the freezing cold of her insides, standing to her feet shakily.

She had to get out of the apartment. She did not feel safe...she needed to be around people. Spotting Levi's leash in the hallway, she snatched it from its hook and mindlessly pulled on a pair of rainboots over her jeans.

"Levi! Come here Levi!" Sue cried, leaning against the front door for support. When Levi did not come immediately, Sue became even more hysterical. "Levi! Levi! Come!"

Still the golden retriever did not show.

Sue slowly and shakily stepped forward, down the hallway, seeing what she considered the safe haven of her home in a new and terrifying light. But she pressed forward, forcing herself down the hallway. As she passed each room, she slowly pushed the door open and jumped back immediately, the adrenaline and fear controlling her every movement. Both bedrooms were empty of any signs of Levi and Sue had never wished more fervently that she could hear than right then. The bathroom door was closed firmly, so Levi could not be in there. That left only one other option.

She was not sure how or why, but the door at the very end of the hallway stood ajar. Nobody had been in the room for weeks, as far as she could remember through the terrified clouds of her mind. Slowly, she pushed to door open, standing to the side and scanning the room with fear-blinded eyes for Levi. From her place at the doorway, she could see very little.

Pulling an arm around her stomach protectively, Sue slowly forced one foot in front of the other. The room was brightly lit from the two windows in the corner reflecting off of the white walls, but the darkness in Sue's mind and body now seemed to take that over and even the normally cheery-looking room was a dark valley.

When she passed the door, the desperation went even deeper as she found herself surrounded by any number of large and small cardboard boxes. She had to find Levi. They needed to leave this place...all three of them. She needed all three of them to feel safe and secure at the bullpen.

"Levi," Sue called, knowing that her voice was trembling and loud in the silence around her even though she could not hear it. "Levi. Come here, boy."

Sue stepped past a pile of boxes about the same height as herself, looking around every inch of the visible room carefully, her entire body still shaking with every step and every thought. She scanned the carpet anxiously and a small white and gray heap in the corner caught her attention. She rounded the last stack of boxes, something telling her to go no further, but she had to find Levi.

As more of the white and gray heap came into view, her fear heightened with every revealed inch. Then, she could see everything and she felt sick again, looking down on the miniature chamber that her investigating had revealed. The white and gray lumps were blankets and sheets, piled up into a makeshift bed. Trash of candy wrappers and chip bags littered the floor, accompanied by a large pile of crushed up soda bottles in one corner. She spotted some of her dishes that she had been slowly missing over the months and all of the filth all over the fabric of the sheets and blankets.

"LEVI!" Sue screamed, backing up in sheer petrification as the tears came running down her face. "LEVI!"

Before she turned to run away from this place, she felt her legs bump into something solid and she tripped, falling to her hands and knees. Cradling her stomach in every attempt to protect her baby from the fall, Sue slowly looked up, planning to move whatever stood in her way. But the object that her eyes fell on was not another box.

Before her eyes, she saw a pair of black tennis shoes, partially covered by the legs of a pair of torn blue jeans. The breath froze like an iceburg in her throat as her terror peaked. Somewhere inside of her, she found the will to look into his face. The blue jeans faded into a white undershirt and then she saw him.

Standing over her, Hernandez looked down on her, slowly twisting a butcher knife around in one hand and brushing his fingers of the other hand across the blade. Sue could feel the rasping, heavy sobs and gasps taking over her as his cold black eyes met hers.

HI SUE, he signed, bending down beside her and balancing on he balls of his feet. LET ME SEE MY BABY.

The scream of terror for Jack was barely past Sue's lips when she saw his hand snatch at her and curl around her mouth, effectively hushing her and the other hand holding the knife flashed before her and she felt a searing pain stabbing her head.

Sue fell to the ground again, both arms wrapping around her stomach in a final maternal struggle to protect the young life inside of her.


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I do not claim it so please don't sue me, I already owe everything I make to the bills.**

**Thank you KJcupcake2nd for the review and I hope anyone else reading this is still finding it interesting. Please read and review! :) **

"You got this one, mate?" Bobby asked Jack, walking with him down the long corridors of the Hoover Building to Garrett's office. "Garrett didn't say that she was dead. He said that she was missing. Hernandez wouldn't have killed the little sheila...he wants the baby."

Even through the screaming and roaring agony in his head, Jack could hear Bobby's voice; it sounded as though Bobby was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Jack.

"I've got it," Jack answered crisply, knowing that Bobby would understand that he was not up for conversation.

He was not up for anything. Jack was not sure how he was moving, how he kept walking onward despite the horrible sickness that filled up every fiber of his being. He could not stop himself from getting sick ever since Garrett had broken the devastating news to them a few hours before. His mind was full, feeling as though it would explode with the pain, but his body seemed to run on autopilot even without his brain's direction.

"Bobby," Jack slowed to a stop in the hallway and halted Bobby with a hand on his arm as the nausea was overtaking him again. "Tell Garrett I'll be there in a few minutes. I..."

He could not finish the sentence for the sickness rising up in him and he slipped into the conference room door to his immediate left in order to use the private restroom. Hurrying past the long conference table, he reached the small room off to the side and swiftly locked it behind himself. Reaching the toilet just in time, Jack's body heaved with the bile and shook violently with cold sweat and shivers. Reaching into his pocket, absently searching out a handkerchief, his fingers brushed across something rough and he pulled it out.

It was a small sheet of paper from a small legal pad, like the one that Sue always carried. Jack heart felt as though it came to a stand still and he opened it slowly.

_Dear Jack,_

_ I love you. Have a great day at work; if you're not, then hopefully you'll find this letter around nine-thirty-ish and be a little happier. I'm making dinner tonight so don't worry about getting anything. _

_ Love,_

_ Sue_

_P.S- I love you._

He could not restrain himself any longer. The tears poured forth, streaming down his face and he fell to his knees on the restroom floor. His hands raked through his hair as he leaned his head downwards until he felt the cool touch of the tiled flooring.

"Oh, God!" he sobbed uncontrollably, clutching to the small note as though it were his only life line. "I'm so...so sorry. God, Sue...I'm so sorry...I tried to protect you...I promise I tried! Please...please, Sue...sweetheart...don't leave me...Please...I need you, honey...Don't leave me."

It felt as though someone were carving his heart out slowly, taking care not to kill him so that he would have to endure the pain. Even the sobs began to feel like they were tearing at his throat when oxygen became a scarce necessity.

But soon some of the pain subsided as he managed to take some control of himself. The coolness of the restroom floor against the flesh of his forehead became a link to sanity as it cooled his burning insides. When he finally trusted his numb legs to stand minutes later, her pulled himself to his feet, using the side of the sink for support.

"Dear Lord," he prayed, feeling drained physically and emotionally, leaning against the sink with his arms apart. "Please...be with Sue. Please, be with Sue and the baby. If someone has to die, Lord...please...let it be me. Please, don't take her...not like this. Help us to find her in time, God...Amen."

His prayer finished, Jack slowly rose his eyes to the mirror in front of him, but the man in the mirror was not Jackson Samuel Hudson. At least, not the one that he knew. The Jack Hudson that he knew did not have bloodshot eyes and ghostly pale skin. The Jack Hudson he knew did not have eyes with such an oldness about them or such a sullen pallor.

He could not live like this. He would not live like this. He had to find Sue, even if it killed him, because Sue did not deserve this. Releasing his grip on the now crinkled paper in his hand, Jack smoothed out the wrinkles and folded it back up according to the traces of Sue's orginal creases. Sticking it into the breast pocket of his collared shirt, Jack quickly splashed his face with warm water and dried it off with a paper towel.

His mind was clearer than it had been, now that the initial shock was over and his emotions coped with. Not that they no longer tore at him like a ravenous animal, but he could now think. He could now function and he knew what needed to be done. He was not going to stand around and dwell on it. He would put the raging feelings of anger and contempt inside of him to good use. They were going to find Hernandez. They were going to find Sue.

With a new and vigorous determination, Jack swung open the restroom door and strode out of the conference room and down the remainder of the hallways to Garrett's office purposefully. Knocking on the door briefly but not waiting for a reply, Jack entered the office and found Garrett and several other men that he recognized as the proverbial higher-ups.

"You wanted to speak to me, sir," Jack began stiffly, bound and determined not to be daunted by the presence of his superiors.

"Yes, Jack, have a seat," Garrett invited, obvious dislike for the situation written all over his face. Jack could see his discomfort and felt for him, even though he knew what was coming. "Director Lewis called this meeting to discuss the Hernandez case. I advised him that it would be best to wait a few hours before we went on with this, are you prepared to...?"

"With all due respect," Jack said, meeting and holding each man in the room's gaze. "I do not think that there is really anything that need be discussed now. There are more important matters at hand and time is of the essence...We found Sue once and I know that we can find her again, but it's going to be much more difficult."

"Agent Hudson," a suited man standing in the corner tried to interrupt him, but Jack pressed on as though he had not spoken.

"As we learned more about Hernandez, he learned more about us," Jack continued, still not taking the offered seat, but pacing what little space he could in the cramped office. "And, quite honestly, he has become the more enlightened. But we have managed to find out enough about him through his operations that we busted to be able to figure this out. We also know from all of the letters sent to Sue's apartment that I intercepted that he wants that child, and badly."

"Agent Hudson," a firm voice commanded loudly and Jack snapped his head up to meet the eyes of the headquarters' director. "You are officially removed from this case."

"No, sir," Jack argued immediately, aware that he was treading on a mine field, but unable to care. "I can't be removed from this case."

"Listen to me, Hudson," the director went on, his old face becoming angry as he approached Jack. "I have been very patient with you and your little charade with Ms. Thomas. I allowed your team to search for her the first time she managed to go missing because the Hernandez case was already yours. Look where that has gotten us. We could not even hold this meeting in a decent timeframe because you were so effected...why the hell should I allow you to continue slowing down the progress of finding Thomas?"

Jack met Garrett's warning eyes briefly before returning his attention to the director, silently hoping that he was not jeopardizing his friend and team director in anyway.

"Because, sir," Jack answered calmly and slowly, making an effort to seem meek and sincere. "I know more about this case than anyone else. I have studied those letters from Hernandez religiously and I've gotten a little sense of how his mind works. I know how he thinks and what he wants." Jack took a deep breath before continueing, feeling the toll being taken on him, but forcing himself to operate properly, for Sue's sake. "And because I love Susan Thomas and my team loves her. Because we want it more than anyone else and won't give up until she is back here, with us, safe."

"So," the director replied, folding his arms, less hostile, but unmoved. "You want me to break policy for you again and use another breech of policy as an excuse? I'm sorry, Hudson, but I can't allow..."

"Director Lewis, please," Jack stepped forward, commanding Lewis's eye contact and swallowing all pride; he would beg if he had to. "I know the F.B.I.'s policy on fraternization and I will respect it. I know that Sue and I haven't followed the rules to a T for the past few months. But...if you allow me and my team this case, you can consider it my final case. After we have Sue back, I'll turn in my resignation immediately, if that's what it takes."

The director looked him in the eye thoughtfully and Jack began to allow a shred of hope to seep through his veins.

"Jack," Garrett's voice interrupted and Jack saw him rise from his chair to the side. "You need to think about this first. You..."

"I have thought about it, Ted," Jack explained, hating that the news had to be broken like this. "It's one of the only things that I've been thinking about for months, but I did not want to make any moves until we had Hernandez back in custody and in the lethal injection chair. Ted, I love my job...it's important to me. But I love Sue more. She's more important to me."

Garrett opened his mouth as though he were going to argue again, but the director interrupted him.

"Very well, Hudson," Lewis finally relented and Jack felt as though his entire being gave a sigh of relief. "We will hate to lose you, but I suppose you have to do what you need to do. I'm willing to give you this last case...especially since your team is the most qualified to finish what you started. Just make certain that things are done right."

Jack nodded his head in eager agreement, feeling a little guilty as he ignored Garrett's distressed movements. All of the other men present that had remained mostly silent filed out of the room before Jack, but Lewis turned back to Jack before departing, his finger raised in the air as though he had an after thought.

"A few years ago, while my wife and I were in the grocery store," Lewis began, the faintest trace of a smile on his face as he addressed Jack. "I made the stupid mistake of grabbing a can of tomato soup from the middle of a pyramid. The entire thing came crashing down and rolled everywhere. Then a blonde lady with a dog appeared and I recognized her as one of the special projects that I had hired, but I could tell that she did not know me from Adam. Do you know what she did? She put down her basket and spent forty-five minutes helping us and the employees pick us all the cans, sort through the bad ones, and stack them back up correctly."

Jack stared at Lewis blankly as he finished up his story; he, certainly, had never heard about this. Otherwise, he knew that the team would have found a way to joke about it and accuse Sue of sucking up.

"She did not even know who I was until a few days later when I called her into my office to thank her, personally," Lewis explained, getting his meaning across to both Jack and Garrett. "A sweet soul like that to help out some stupid old man does not belong with a murderer and rapist. I think Ms. Thomas has suffered more than enough of undeserved pain, don't you?"

Without another word, the director turned and left, leaving Jack and Garrett thinking in silence. Words were no longer needed; Garrett understood fully, now. Quietly, Jack slipped out of Garrett's office and made his way back down the now empty hallway as the darkness of night continued to fall.

"We're going to find you, Sue, honey," Jack whispered his promise to the deserted hallways where he and Sue had so often tread together. Another lone tear threatened and escaped. "We're coming, sweetheart."


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Another thanks to JaS2g, mo9526, KJcupcake2nd, and cheliosfan for your reviews; you have no idea what an encouragement they are when I just don't now how or have the drive to continue. And I also hope that anyone else reading but not reviewing is still enjoying this.**

**Once again, please read and let me know what you think. Thank you!**

**P.S.- Consider this my fair warning: Things get far more graphic, including mature moments and brutal violence of sorts. If you are not old enough, I cannot stop you from reading this, but I do ask that you consider my warning before continuing.**

She could not hear it, but she could feel it, and Sue knew that the scream escaping her was a loud one. The pain was terrible; he was trying to make it terrible.

"Please," Sue begged, clinging to the ratty old blanket as tightly as possible as though it would offer her some sanctuary. "Please...stop. Please...please."

But the pain did not stop, not for several long, agonizing minutes that felt more like hours and days. Sue buried her face into the dirty cloth that she clung to, unable to stop the flow of thoughts streaming through her head, despite the pain that she was being forced to endure.

Here she was again, back to the hell from which she had been saved. Another pained gasp tore at her chest and the touch of his hands on her sides made her sick. She could not control her bodily functions and retched again, the chills making her shiver only worsening her torture.

The only reaction was more pain as her captor quickly ripped himself away and Sue felt another horrible blow to her head. His hands were on her shoulders then, jerking her up. She could feel his breath on her and knew that he was shouting his threats, but she was helpless to defend herself. The tears in her eyes, aided by the force of his strike, effectively blinded her. He dropped her back to the floor and another kick was aimed at her back.

The hard floor tremored beneath her as she felt him walk away, surprised that she could even feel anything any longer. Her entire body protested any sort of movement, even breathing hurt her to no ends. But she could only focus on one thing. She moved her two shaking hands down to her stomach and prayed to God that her baby would be alright.

JACK, her hands signed shakily against her. She could not think clearly herself, but the mother in her wanted her baby to be safe. She wanted to be safe with him. JACK HELP. PLEASE LIVE. I WANT YOU. I LOVE YOU.

Sue attempted to open her eyes again and reached up one hand to wipe away the blurriness, still forcing the throbbing of her head and the rest of her body to leave her focus. She could not focus on it...she needed to live. She needed to live because if she died, her son died.

Suddenly, a new vision in her mind came to the front as she lay on the cold stone ground, remembering the previous night when she had been happy and content, at home with Jack, never suspecting that she could possibly wind up back in Hernandez's hell.

_YOU TIRED? Jack's fingers had signed before her eyes as they had laid on the sofa. WE WATCH MOVIE LATER._

_NO, Sue had signed in return. JUST THINK. _

_WHAT? Jack's fingers had asked again. _

_Sue had leaned back into Jack's chest, letting go of any discomforts as Jack's arms tightened around her and rested on her stomach, gently caressing her skin through her thin pajama shirt and the child beneath. His legs propped up against her on either side, both sitting up but stretching out longways on the couch. Sue lifted her hands to drift slowly and timidly up his legs and rest on his knees and melted against him with her head beneath his chin._

_WHAT KIND CHILD WILL HE BE? Sue signed against his right knee with her right hand. "There's a whole half of him that we really know nothing about...exept the bad."_

"_Sue," Jack had said, moving to the side a little and tipping her chin to look at him. His eyes were so kind, but so serious; they held Sue's and she could not let them go. She loved his eyes, everything about him. "He's going to be a wonderful little boy. He's going to cry and fuss and eat. He's going to throw things from his highchair and provide us with plenty of dirty diapers. But he will also laugh and play with toys and smile...and everything he does will be perfect. When he gets older, he'll probably break a few bones and a few things that we'll have to pay for. He's going to be just like any other boy. Sue, don't dread something that will not happen."_

_A tear had slipped down Sue's cheek then as she watched him speak, letting go of some of her anxieties as he told her. A hand had moved up from her belly to the side of her neck and jawbone. Jack met her eyes again, slowly leaning down and kissing her softly. Sue returned the kiss just as sweetly, thankful to be exactly where she was._

"_It doesn't matter who his father is, how he was conceived, or how he was brought into this world," Jack had said slowly when he pulled away and Sue looked at him, his eyes closed tightly as though he were concentrating hard on getting his words out right. "Sweetheart...all that matters is that you are his mother. All that matters is that he is loved and raised the best that he can be. Sue, you're a spectacular woman, and I know that you'll be a wonderful mother. You already love him so much...he really stands no chance."_

_Sue had laughed then, a little, mingled with some tears. "Let's go to bed, Jack."_

_Sue had felt the emotions inside her deeply at that time, she could not help the strong desire to be with him, to be made love to by him. She had seen the desire in his eyes too as he leaned down and kissed her again, much more heated and passionately this time._

_It had been a struggle, but Sue had managed to stand to her feet and Jack followed closely, going wherever her tantalizing lips and needy touch had led him. He had held her so closely, even as they blindly made their way to her bedroom. Sue had felt a nagging at the back of her mind but the desire to feel Jack's hands on her, touching her the way that she ached for him to, stifled all of her conscious's protests._

_How they wound up beneath her sheets, Sue really had no time to register. Somehow, she could feel the soft bedclothes against her skin where her own clothing would usually have been as Jack's bare form leaned over her, kissing the side of her jawbone, his hands gliding like velvet over her thighs. The need within her stung and she pulled him closer to her, admittedly a little difficult due to the growing life between them. But the feeling of Jack's hands on her came to an abrupt halt and he moved his lips away from her slowly._

"_Jack?" Sue had questioned softly, still needing him, but the sinking feeling in her chest had returned and stung even more painfully. Twice, this had happened before, why again?_

_Jack's fom lay down beside her on the bed, reaching back and switching on the small bedside table lamp and Sue could then see Jack's face. There was a pain there, behind the desire and hidden emotions, there was a pain...almost a fear._

"_I'm sorry, Sue," Jack had said softly, moving his hand to brush away another tear that he had caused her. "Please understand...I just can't do this to you. I'm sorry. Please don't cry."_

_But the tears had slipped down Sue's cheeks anyway, no matter how hard she tried to restrain them. Jack had pulled her softly into his arms, holding her close and pressed his lips to her forehead. Sue had leaned into his chest, a whole new emotion taking over her insides. _

_Why did he not want her the way that she wanted him so badly? She could feel the effect that she had had on him and the effect he had had on her, but why did he do this?_

_I SORRY, SUE, Jack's fingers signed against her chest. I LOVE YOU. YOU BEAUTIFUL._

_Sue had curled her fingers around his, stopping him from signing anymore. She could not bear it, not now...it hurt too much. She leaned into him, now seeking his comfort, which he did offer, pulling her into his arms securely and brushing back the hair that had fallen in her face before kissing her cheek softly again. Finally, merciful sleep put an end to her tears and she willingly accepted it, knowing that things would be easier in the morning._

A harsh hand on her arm drug her away from her kinder memories, back into the present nightmare that was her life. She felt herself being pulled upwards and tried to stand on her own two feet, but the weakness in her body did not allow her knees to support her. She fell back to the ground, feeling a nearby pipe collide with her head. Thankfully, graceful darkness took her once again.


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: It isn't mine.**

**My thanks to everyone that reviewed and anyone reading this. But you'll have to forgive me for taking so long to update, I'm having horrible writers' block. :(**

Jack strode into Sue's apartment purposefully, trying his best to ignore all the comings and goings of the F.B.I. personel and forensics teams. He noticed all of the strange looks that he was getting from those that knew who he was and was sure that he would have to face some member of the team at any moment.

Passing through the kitchen, it struck his as odd that there was no sign of a struggle. Everything was left the exact same way as it had been when he left. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Bobby exit the laundry room to his left and Jack headed directly for the livingroom, not quite ready to talk to anyone. After all, the team already thought that he was supposed to be off the case and he really was in no condition to try and explain to them.

Stepping around a woman that he recognized from the forensics department but did not know, Jack surveyed the livingroom, as well. To the naked eye, everything seemed fine and well in order there too. A small catch in his throat made his chest ache and his heart and mind seemed to contract within themselves when he saw the laundry that Sue had been folding just that morning still sitting on the couch. The air in the crowded room was too thick; this was Sue's and his space, these people did not belong here, they should not have been here...not under these circumstances.

"Jack," Demetrius said, coming up to him from the window where he had been talking in hushed tones to Myles and Jack tried to pass off wiping away a tear as rubbing his tired eyes. "Jack, you probably shouldn't be here. You should go home, Jack."

"This is my home," Jack answered through the fogginess of his mind and his uncooperative body, turning away from Demetrius so that he would not see the redness of his eyes as he tried to restrain more searing tears. "I have Garrett's and the director's permission to be here. They're letting me finish out this case."

Looking around the brightly lit livingroom, Jack sought an escape from everything. He needed to get away from all of these people, the equipment, the large industrial light stands set up strategically all around the main rooms of the apartment. He spotted Tara in the corner by the television talking to Lucy, both women casting glances in his direction with their own tear stained eyes. Wanting nothing more than to avoid their scrutiny, Jack ducked back into the hallway and silently managed to put one foot in front of the other, looking for some place of solitude.

Moving down the hallway, he spotted the light flooding out of the door at the very end of the hallway. His heart had been pounding in his ears before, now he could hear nothing as it came to a halt and his throat felt as though someone had forced a large wad of cotton down it. His feet kept moving forward, towards the light, though his mind was screaming at him to stop. He felt as though he were convulsing, but his body remained perfectly still, he could see that as he stretched out an arm to push the partially-closed door open.

What met his eye behind the door reminded him of a passageway to hell. He had only been in the storage room once to stow away his hockey picture, but he knew by instinct that it should not have looked like this. It should not have had several boxes tumbled over and laying on the floor. There should not have been a large disfigured blood stain in the center of the floor. He should not see Sue's rainboots thrown in a corner or Levi's leash on the floor beside the blood.

"Oh my God, Sue," Jack breathed, loud enough to only reach his ears.

"Um, Agent Jack Hudson?" said a young man, coming to stand at Jack's side as though he wanted something, obviously ignorant to many things at the crime scene, as well as to the fact that Jack was the last person that he needed to be asking anything. "What do you think happened with the...?"

But Jack was out of the room before the young darkhaired man could finish. Nearly falling into the bathroom, Jack reached the toilet and felt his body heave as he retched again, for what seemed like the millionth time since that morning. His body was shaking again, but a cautious touch on his shoulder made him jerk around in surprise.

Tara was standing over him, one hand on his shoulder and another fiddling around at the sink before bringing a cold, damp cloth into his reach. He recieved the cloth thankfully and wiped at his sweaty face before cleansing his mouth. Her small hand squeezed his shoulder like a scared young sister would try to help her favorite protective older brother and Jack covered her hand with his own.

"St...Stanley, could you please go get Jack a glass of water, honey?" Tara asked and Jack noticed Stanly standing over her shoulder at the doorway for the first time.

"Of, course," Stanley answered and Jack could already see him turning, leaving the door only slightly ajar. "Jack...if you need anything else...just let me know, ok?"

Jack nodded his appreciation but said nothing, still not able to find the strength to talk. How could this have happened? How could the one safe harbor for Sue and even himself turn into one of the horrors of a crime scene? He had always seen the terrible emotions in the eyes of other victims' families and loved ones and had always sorrowed for them, but his training had taught him to be numb to it. But now that he was on the other side of the yellow tape, he knew that they had been wrong.

"You shouldn't have went in there, Jack," Tara said from behind him as he turned back to the toilet.

"I don't know why I did."

"But we're going to find her," Tara continued, then paused briefly for a few moments and Jack could hear her sniffling. "Come on...let's get you up and to some place quieter."

Jack stood up willingly, feeling her supportive arm under his but not really needing it. He stopped at the sink a moment to rinse his mouth and followed Tara into the hallway and across to the nearest bedroom, the one that he had inherited.

"Jack," Tara began in an attempt to joke to lessen the pressure of the air, but Jack could hear the small catch in her throat. "You should really clean up after yourself a little more."

Jack gazed over his room observantly and noticed every little change from the way that he had left it that morning. He, by habit, left his room cleaned and in order. But now, the closet door stood open and there were sheets of flyleaf paper strown all over the floor. The large expanse of cotton filled up his insides again and hurt like no other pain in the world.

"She found the letters, Tara," Jack breathed, rounding his bed to the other side and dropping to his knees to gather them up in his hands. His emotions ran away with him again and tears threatened. "She read these...horrible... Oh, shit...Tara...she must've been so afraid...she knew that he was..."

Tara took a letter from his hand and Jack covered his face with both arms, feeling like ripping away his pain. Slow deep breathes finally erupted from Jack's chest; he had to be calm, he could not lose it again, they had to be thinking rationally to get Sue back.

"Jack," Tara's timid voice interrupted his thoughts again and she motioned for him to stand. There were tears in her eyes. "You never told us how...how..."

"Why would I want the team to have to know all of this?" Jack asked rhetorically, still swallowing away the pain as his heart yearned for Sue, yearned to have her back in his arms and sleeping with him in his bed as they had done for so long; that's where she belonged, not... "Now you see why I didn't tell the team all that I knew. None of you needed to know this."

Through the tears, he could see Tara still examining the paper and a change came over her face just as Stanley entered to room with a glass of water. Jack recieved it gratefully, feeling as though he would go crazy if Tara did not speak soon.

"Jack!" Tara blurted out in her shakey voice, covering up and anguished and desperate sob. "It says it right here! I know where she is!"


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I don't own it so don't tell anyone any different! I have no money! I can't be sued!**

**Thanks to everyone still reading and for the reviews! You guys are really quite kind! :) Now...onward!**

Sue's head felt like a lead block as she struggled to lift it, finally coming back around to consciousness. A sharp gasp escaped her as a sharp pain grasped at her lower stomach and back and then seemed to move all over her body. The pain was bad and made her body want to clench inwards, but something was restraining her from doing so. After what seemed like ages, the pain finally released and Sue was able to breathe normally again.

Being suddenly reminded of where she was, Sue's insticts went into over drive and she began to struggle against the bonds holding her and opened her eyes far more quickly than she should have. A bright light from some point before her left her vision blurry and blinded before she mananged to blink away the fuzziness and slowly began to distinguish the different figures in the room. The room was dark and dank and the concrete walls reminded her of the basement of her apartment building. Passing her eyes over the room, desperate for any kind of sign that she and her baby were safe, at least for now, her eyes fell on the source of light for the first time.

There was a large industrial light stand set up directly in front of her and shining its beam on her as though putting her in a spotlight. Squinting her eyes, she quickly adverted her gaze from it and looked to the other side of the room, thankful that at least she was vertical. In the corner stood a small table and Sue narrowed her gaze slightly to try and figure out what the small instruments were that it held. The way that the light from the lamp hit it, Sue knew that it was a metal tray, very similar to the ones that were used in hospitals. But another gasp of horror and realization caught in her chest when she was able to see the instruments clearly. Surgical syringes, clamps, and knives lay on a white paper cloth, perfectly aligned beside a bottle of brown iodine. Looking down at herself for the first time, she realized that she had been garbed in a pale blue surgical gown.

"Oh, God," Sue cried quietly, not wanting to make any more noise than necessary and she looked up above her head to struggle again her prison.

She recognized the strong metal, gate-like platform against her back as the bottom side of a bedframe and pulled against it with all the endurance that she possessed. Glancing down and to the side as the adrenaline and terror began to fill her up, he saw that her feet were strapped to the bedframe and the frame was bolted to the floor with large metal bolts and screws. Her hands were strapped above her head with a pair of handcuffs looped around a square of metal, allowing her no leverage to move or even tug. The feeling of something small hitting the back of her head caught her attention and she turned quickly, her nerves only becoming more timid.

Looking around briefly, she spotted a small rock the size of a marble laying at her feet on the ground and a movement in the corner caught her attention. Behind the blinding lamp she could see a figure moving in the darkness and then came into the light. As Hernandez approached her, Sue felt as though someone were twisting a knife in her side.

To make matters worse, as soon as Hernandez was mere feet from her, another sharp pain seized her insides and ripped at her lunges. The baby was moving inside of her, upset or disturbed or something...unless... Sue gasped as the pain tightened and a cry begged to be released from her lips, but she would not allow it.

_Not contractions_, Sue silently prayed through the pain. _Please no contractions. It's not time. It's too early. Please, God...it's too early. Don't take my baby, please._

Sue could feel Hernandez's eyes on her as the contraction finally began to pass and her insides relaxed slightly as her breathing calmed to some semblance of steady. Her eyes had been closed from the pain, but now she forced them open, knowing that she would only anger him if she did not watch him speak.

"Do they hurt that badly?" Hernandez asked with an innocent expression as though he really cared and placed his other hand on the side of her neck in a would-be-soothing manner.

Sue did not answer but the agony must have been apparent in her eyes.

"Good," Hernandez replied to her unspoken reply with a small smile. "That means that it's almost time. You are a little early...but it should be ok. Just a few more hours, Susan Thomas, then it'll all be over. The baby will be born." Hernandez slid the hand on her neck down her chest and rested it on her stomach.

"Don't touch my baby!" Sue breathed through the pain, now angry along with terrified and the silent tears were falling down her face again. "Don't touch my child!"

The only award for her motherly bravery was a harsh blow with the back of his hand and Sue felt her head explode again with the unbearable headaches.

"Do not presume to tell me whether I may or may not touch my son or you!" Hernandez returned angrily, forcing Sue to look at him again with a fistful of hair. "You have no control or choice here! You are a mere toy and useful asset for my purpose. You will deliver my baby...and then you will die. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are more than the lowly trash that you are."

When Sue did not reply, Hernandez released her forcefully and moved to pull his chair into the light at her side. Sitting down easily and leaning back as if preparing for a comfortable conversation with an old friend, Hernandez lit up a cigarette and looked Sue over.

Despite her situation and the sinking feeling in her heart that told her that it was truly the end, Sue's thoughts turned, again, to Jack. Though she had been so unwilling to hope for it for years, Sue knew just how much he loved her, though she was sure that he would argue that with her. Her eyes felt weak and she tried to rest her head against one arm that was stretched above her. Trying to take her mind off of the pain, Sue closed her eyes to call forth some picture of Jack, some memory, or anything.

The first memory that came was the night that they had spent sleeping on the kitchen floor. Ever since that night, she had always looked back on it while laying in his arms, just before the moment that conscious thought turned into unconscious dreams. But even that memory was stolen away from her because he had been there, watching them, seeing every intimate moment and soft touch. The beauty of it was gone. The wonderful time of blissfulness when Jack and she were living together as lovers after she eventually coped with her first abduction was now poisoned by the knowledge that Hernandez was present, silently stalking their lives from the shadows...even taunting Jack with letters and notes.

"You know," Hernandez said conversationally after throwing the butt of his cigarette at her and gaining her relunctant attention. "The best part is that it was such a great challenge. Luckily for me, my father took me hunting a lot when I was a kid. See...we used to hunt in restricted areas and eventually the wardens caught on. But, my dad showed me a trick to keep the dogs from smelling us and it was very useful for your dog too. Levi...was it?"

Sue did not reply. She did not want to know how he did it; she did not want to know how he accomplished such horrible feats as to live in someone's home secretly and shadow their every move.

"But you probably don't care about that, do you?" Hernandez continued, taking advantage of the fact that she was too afraid of what he would do if she looked away. "Well...your contractions are getting closer in between and seem very painful...that must be bacause you're suffering from trauma induced labor...huh? But you'll be in professional hands...you see, I have a friend that's a doctor and he agreed to perform the surgery to ensure that my son is born right and healthy. He's actually getting ready in the next room over...he says that it should only be a couple of minutes now."

Sue looked away then...her eyes drifting back over to the surgical knifes and clamps almost against her will. She felt the bile in her chest again and became sick just as another terrible contraction seized her.


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...if I did I wouldn't be struggling to pay for a good college in the fall! :)**

**Also, thanks so much for the reviews, though I sense a little impatience. But forgive me, I'm trying to update with only small gaps in between but graduation planning, work, and preparing for college is kind of consuming. But I still love you all! :) And thank you so much to those still reading.**

"Are you sure, Tara?" Garrett asked her seriously, sitting behind his desk and leaning forward on his elbows almost conspiratorily to converse with the team before him. "We're holding onto this case by the skin of our teeth and we can't afford any mistakes."

"I'm positive," Tara answered, regarding the letter again.

Jack shuffled around uncomfortably, desperate to get a move on it. Tara was never wrong and everything that she had told the team made perfect sense now that they looked at the situation from a different perspective. He met Bobby and Demetrius's eyes where they stood by the door and was grateful for the bracing nods that they gave him. Lucy stood at his side, nervously holding her hands about herself and nibbling on the nails of one hand while her other hand clutched a handkerchief that Bobby had given her earlier. Myles sat in the chair in front of Garrett's desk, his elbows propped up on his knees and his hands cupping his forehead.

"Ted," Tara contiued in her always convincing way, rounding the desk and setting the letter still in her hands before him. She stood beside him, pointing out each individual phrase that she referred to. "Look, he's been telling us his plans the whole time...dropping hints and sliding in comments...but we just thought that he was trying to get to Jack. He knew that we would get Sue a security shadow and he devised his whole plan around it."

She leaned forward and silently beckoned everyone forward with a hand to show them a part of the letter. Jack was the only one to stay in his place; he knew the letters too well already, he had studied them, obsessed over them, analyzed them, but even he knew that Tara was always the one to see what others did not.

"_'My son will be mine, it's only a matter of time. Be relieved, however, I am friends with trained professionals that have offered their services._," Tara quoted aloud from the letter and Jack heart gnawed at him again painfully and his head hurt until he had to close his eyes tightly at the words. "_'My son will be like the God that you worship. Born in a stable...a blessing to humankind.'_ Don't you see it, Ted?" Tara asked, her voice almost as desperate as Jack felt when she faced their supervisor but really addressed everyone at large.

"Williams," Ted said slowly, his tone still full of uncertainty. "I'm not sure what you see here...perhaps if you explained yourself a little more calmly."

"Ted, with all due respect," Jack finally spoke up, stepping forward a small distance, everything in his human composition just waiting to leap forward, but his mind holding him in place. "We don't have time for calm. Sue's due in two weeks and there's no telling what she's suffering right now! This isn't a case where slow and quiet is good...we need to get to her now...act first and explain later."

The expression on Garrett's face was unreadable and Jack found himself able to feel a little surprised at himself for his outburst. But something about Garrett's uncharacteristically holding his temper and not greeting a challenge with open arms told Jack that there was some pity and understanding behind his hardened features.

Tara looked up at Jack calmly and gave him an it'll-be-alright look and Lucy's arm reached out for his soothingly. His eyes stayed trained on Garrett's but he could see Bobby and Demetrius offering him the same patient looks as Tara out to the side.

"Ted," Tara went on a split moment later. "When you first told us that Sue went missing again," she regarded the clock on the wall; it was three o'clock in the morning. "Yesturday morning, we had every location that Hernandez was even remotely suspicioned to have a connection with searched thoroughly. But...there was one location that we did not have searched thoroughly, we just had a local policeman drop by because we knew that the owners were back in town and we had no reasons to suspect it. The house were Sue was being held the first time was an old farmhouse at..."

"787 Pinewood Ridge Road," Jack input for her.

"Yes," Tara nodded, indicating the letter again. "When we were investigating the location after we got Sue back, we discovered that Hernandez had been using the house illegally while the owners were out of town on a prolonged vacation. We contacted them and explained what had happened and they came back immediately. Our people met with them and discovered that the man was a doctor and his wife was a stay-at-home wife."

"So you're trying to say...?" Garrett left the question hanging.

"Ok," Tara explained, obviously growing a little impatient herself as she shifted her position to point out the key words on the letter. "We had no reason to suspect the owners of the farmhouse, Mr. Gerald and Mrs. Leigh Caldwell of any affliation with Hernandez...especially when they were so outraged when we contacted them the first time. But...when I first read this letter I did a little quick research. Both Hernandez and Caldwell went to the same high school in southern Texas and it seems that they've kept contact...infrequent contact...but contact all the same."

The dots connecting in Garrett's head was almost as visible as lights going off by his raised eyebrows and Jack felt a small sense of relief.

"'_...trained professionals...'_, that would be Caldwell..._'...born in a stable...'_. Hernandez's friend Gerald Caldwell is a medical doctor that owns a very secluded farmhouse just out of the District and specialized in gynecology," Tara finished off. "This has to be it, Ted. It all makes sense now and it's all we have."

"Alright," Garrett said after only a moment of thoughtfullness as he sorted through everything and he stood up and began to lead the way out of his office and down the empty and partially darkened hallways. "You have my authorization. Tara and Lucy, you two will stay here on base duty; get S.W.A.T. down here now. Bobby and Myles, you're team one. Demetrius and Jack, you're team two."

Tara and Lucy nodded their understanding and broke away from the group in the direction of the bullpen to set everything up for the upcoming mission. The four men remaining followed their supervisor to the stairwell and listened to his warnings of safety and stealthy movements.

Jack's heart was positively beating out of his chest when they finally broke through the large metal door to the basement of the building that was used as the F.B.I.'s full fledged armory. Though his whole body was filled to the rim with all the worries and horrors that he felt for Sue, he found that productive action was the best remedy and he was able to function in his agent mode.

"S.W.A.T. will be here any minute and then we're gone," Garrett went on, unlocking the safe that housed the F.B.I.'s firearms and handing each man a Kevlar vest. Jack noticed immediately when he pulled one on, himself, and Garrett met his eyes. He looked away to focus on the straps of his vest before explaining. "This is no normal case. When one of the family is in a deadly position, grandpa gets involved, too. I'm joining you all in the take-down...we're all going to make sure that Susan Thomas gets back here safe if it kills us."

Jack, Bobby, Demetrius, Myles, and Ted Garrett continued to suit up in silence, but Jack knew that there was a sort of reverence about Ted's joining them.

"You have a family, Ted," Jack said silently, but his tone got all of his meaning out into the open.

"We all have families," Ted answered, not meeting Jack's eyes and the others listened in silence just as S.W.A.T. arrived with the vans and started to prepare themselves, as well. "What's really important about this team is that we each have two families...and we don't let any members of those families get hurt...we do anything humanly possible to get our brother or sister back. We're going to get her back...safe."

Garrett finally met Jack's eyes and he could feel the stares from Bobby and Demetrius on him, but Myles still would not look at any of them. He was still worried for his Sue's life, but he felt a small sense of confidence and even encouragement to move on.

"Thank you," Jack said to them all, knowing that the feeling was mutual between every man present.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: Yada, yada, yada...I'm not that good.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews again! And to answer mo9526 and "anonymous"...I didn't realize that I typed that paragraph in such a way as could be misinterpreted, sorry...and no; it was supposed to be Jack calling Sue his, not Myles. But thanks again to all of those still reading! :)

She could not hear it, but Sue knew that a scream of pain had escaped her as the contraction seized her, now a continuous flow of agony with no relief. She was in full labor and the thoughts of terror in her mind only made it that much more horrid.

_Please, God_, Sue prayed silently in her mind as the burning pain licked at every inch of her insides. _Please save my baby. Please don't make this his life. I'm ready...just please let Jack take my baby._

A strange movement shook the bedframe that she was strapped to and Sue opened her eyes against her better judgement, surprised that she could through the searing hurt. She was being lowered down backwards and the muffled thoughts in her head began to fit together. She could not see what they laid her on, but that did not matter. A hand grabbed at her face and she turned away, but the hand was stronger and rougher.

"Look at me!" Hernandez shouted, shaking her with his hand gripping her jawbone. Sue struggled to keep her eyes open while everything within her protested against it. Hernandez brought his face within inches of Sue's and she had to concentrate through the burning of her insides to see his lips. "Don't make this difficult. If my son dies...you die in the most painful way possible. And don't forget...I can get to Mr. Jack Hudson and your other friends, too."

The cry in Sue's throat hurt badly, but she refused to let it release as the contraction of her pelvic muscles relaxed the slightest bit. Hernandez released her face and pulled away and Sue saw him look across the room and say something to someone. Turning her head, Sue found that another man was present and working over the medical table to arrange the tools properly.

"Please," Sue begged, but it came out as a whisper and neither man appeared to hear it.

"...right now?" Hernandez said when Sue looked back at him and watched his lips through the fog that her pain caused. "...what if she moves?...hurt...son...no anesthesia...don't care..."

"...can't move...," the man clad in a white lab coat replied when Sue turned her gaze on him. "...hospital straps...immobilized." Sue could see no more when the man that she realized was a doctor pulled on a blue sterile face mask then arranged the latex gloves on his hands and the safety glasses on his face.

"No! Please, no!" Sue begged as her last and final attempt when the doctor pulled the medical tray laden with his instuments towards her and grabbed a pair of metal scissors to cut a hole in the gown to expose her stomach.

Her survival reflexes took over, but proved useless as several strong straps were arranged stratigically around her body and limbs. Her muscles were useless and the scream that she had been withholding ripped out of her when the doctor brought a knife to her stomach and she felt him make the first small incision.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Thanks for the reviews. I love you guys...I really do. It's just that I wanted to tell the story from two different points of view and wanted you all to see both too. Please don't throw anything sharp and/or pointy my way.

Jack leaned against the wall of the S.W.A.T. van, closing his eyes, feeling impatient again and the van bumped and jostled down the rough dirt road that he had traveled one time before. His heart was beating madly out of his chest and the heap of cotton in his throat was back.

"Hudson," Garrett's deep voice interrupted the silence in the van, catching everyone's attention and Jack looked at him, meeting the depths of his dark and serious eyes. "If you can't do this, tell me now. There is no shame in needing to stay behind in these kinds of situations, sometimes our minds and emotions can't take it. You don't have to do this."

Jack could feel Bobby and Demetrius looking at him from across, their expressions serious and questioning, but something inside of him told him that they already knew what his answer would be. Myles, to his immediate right kept his head lowered, as he had done religiously while in the presence of the team ever since his last outburst in the bullpen and Garrett's heated repremand. None of the other men from S.W.A.T. said anything and allowed the team the privacy of their conversation.

"I have to do this," Jack answered firmly and resolutely, just as the van began to slow considerably in what he knew was the yard of the old farmhouse of his nightmares.

Garrett nodded silently as the van lurched to a stop. "Alright," he continued, dealing out the directions to their team and the guys from S.W.A.T. that had accompanied them.

The execution of orders went very much as they had so many months ago on the same spot. However, instead of trudging quickly up to the house, Jack and Demetrius ran stealtily towards the barn several yards away. Though not a large barn or particularly well-kept, it looked ominous in the rays of the full moon against the dark sky of early morning.

"One, two, three," Demetrius whispered, giving Jack a quick nod of certainty. "Penetrate!"

Jack shoved against the wooden barn doors with all his might, but was surprised to find that they had not been locked. The large doors swung open easily and Jack nearly fell through onto the floor until Demetrius grabbed his shoulder. Turning a questioning gaze on Demetrius as the worry inside of him rose from a raging storm into a complete hurricane, Jack listened carefully in the darkness of the barn, keeping his automatic at the ready.

"You're ready right now?" a voice said from a distance and Jack strained to detect where it was coming from. "What if she moves? If it could my son...no anesthesia, I don't care."

Jack traveled further into the dark barn towards the middle and felt the floor give slightly beneath him. Demetrius gave him a quick wide-eyed look and Jack slowly and silently lowered himself to the trapdoor, pulling out a flashlight to shine through the cracks. Nothing proved to be useful; the area below was a concrete room all around...but his eyes suddenly fell on an old wooden door in the far corner, a small beam of light pouring from the bottom.

"She can't move," another voice, different from the first said in the silence, much closer this time. "Hospital straps can leave patients completely immobilized."

"This is it," Jack whispered up to Demetrius and stepped away from the trapdoor swiftly, then pulled the radio on his shoulder closer to his mouth. "Perpetrators have been found...in the barn...requesting backup."

Demetrius stooped down to help Jack lift the trapdoor up and drop it down backwards quietly. Jack lowered himself down the ladder first with Demetrius fast on his heels, hearing something on the radio but his mind not functioning well enough to determine its meaning. Demetrius ticked off three seconds with his fingers and then both men kicked through the door.

"F.B.I.! Drop your weapons now!" Jack shouted, hearing Demetrius shouting any almost identical demand.

The man standing over an old wooden fold-up table wearing a white lab coat immediately fell back and drop the small metal items in his hands to the floor. Demetrius had his gun on him automatically and Jack turned his to the other man in the room, the one he recognized as Hernandez.

"On the ground now!" Jack ordered. "Face down! Hands where I can see them!"

Hernandez stared at him angrily for a moment of daring, but finally relented against the automatic in Jack's grasp. He lowered himself to the ground and lay there flatly, pulling his hands to rest openly beside his head. Jack walked toward him, trying to get closer to the table at the small sound of a whimper, but his gun still trained determinedly on Hernandez.

"It's alright, Jack," Demetrius said, coming up to him after securing handcuffs on the Dr. Gerald Caldwell and pulling out another pair for Hernandez. "Help Sue."

A small touch on his arm had him turning as quickly as a strong jerk would have and Jack looked down to see Sue looking up at him almost blankly. He lowered his weapon to the ground carefully, switching on the safety, and took Sue's hand in his and cupped his other around her face.

"Jack?" she whispered softly and he saw the traces of a soft but pained smile pulling at her lips when he nodded, a tear slipping past his lids. "Get me to the hospital."


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Hey, this is the last and final chapter for this story and it's a happy one. Thanks to all those that read and reviewed. I hope that you enjoyed it, despite the horrid parts.

"Jack Hudson," Sue's voice called from some point behind him in the next room and Jack dropped the spoon he had been using in the sink and stuck the glass dish back into the freezer just before Sue rounded the corner. "Jack where's Sammy at? If you two don't hurry we're going to miss Robby's baby dedication!"

"Sue, hunny, we have an hour," Jack said soothingly, pulling her closer by the waist and resting a hand on her three-month baby bump. "Why don't you be as calm as little Emma Lilly, here?"

A crooked smile transformed Sue's annoyed face against her will and she rested a hand on her stomach, as well. "Emma Lilly is not being patient...she just can't vocalize yet. We have a lot to do today and having Robert Myles Demetrius Hudson dedicated is one of them. And..." Sue pulled away gently and tugged the freezer door open to reveal the dish being newly frozen from is brief thaw. "Eating ice cream desserts at eight-thirty in the morning is no way to impress the team when they come over for lunch."

Jack was shocked that she somehow knew and his face must have showed it. Sue closed the freezer again and gave Jack a quick peck on the cheek, her light pink maternity dress brushing against his dark suit.

"Have Sammy ready," Sue began to instruct, pulling away when Jack tried to deepen the kiss into something more. "Straighten your tie, I'll get Robby wiped up, and get the chocolate and ice cream off of your face. Then meet me in the car."

Jack immediately turned for a napkin on the counter and wiped away the evidence of his sins, feeling much like a small boy. He watched Sue walk back into the livingroom, her light dress waving teasingly behind her. Her voice rang out from the livingroom as she baby-talked the small Robby and Jack felt his chest burn with an amazing sense of pride. Subconsciously twisting his wedding ring more securely to his finger, Jack crossed the kitchen to the laundry room where he heard the noises of curious hands.

"Sammy! You better put mommy's shirt back down!" Jack said playfully, bending down on he boy's level and making a growling face at him. The small darkheaded boy dropped the red blouse guiltily and ran into Jack's arm, submitting to the resulting boughts of tickles on his stomach.

Jack rose back to his feet and pulled the laundryroom door shut behind him, settling Sammy onto his waist and feeling his small hands patting his cheeks as he giggled wildly. Jack snatched the three-year-old up in both hands and stretched him into the air at arms' length to twirl him around in an airplane motion.

The darkhaired toddler giggled happily. "Aew-pane, Daddy, aew-pane!"

"Yes, airplane, son," Jack agreed, bringing the boy down closer to place a raspberry kiss on his cheek.

The small boy in Jack's hands looked similar to Jack by way of characteristics. His hair was dark and untamed, his skin a shade or two tanner than Jack's, and his eyes were a deep dark brown. All those ignorant to the fact that Jackson Samuel Hudson Junior was not Jackson Samuel Hudson Senior's real son all tended to comment on how much the son looked like his father, a certain tender point of pride with Jack.

"Daddy, Mommy pwetty," Sammy stated matter-of-factly in his childish tone, nodding to his father seriously and Jack turned around to find Sue standing in the doorway.

"She absolutely is," Jack agreed again, crossing to where Sue stood holding their one-and-a-half-year-old son, Robby on her pregnant hip and kissing her on the cheek.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Sue asked with a beautiful smile, feigning a patient expression.

"Well, I don't know," Jack teased. "Is my tie straight?"

Sue rolled her eyes and crossed in front of Jack, leading the way for her three men, two small and one big, in suits towards the door. Jack locked the door behind him quickly and did a small jog to catch up with Sue halfway down the hallway. Drawing up even with her, he took her unoccupied hand in his and rose it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against it. Sue looked up at him and offered him a real and sincere smile and Jack smiled back. He was forgiven.

"No, no, no," Bobby erupted loudly over the light buzz of chatter at the diningroom table several hours later after church. "Are you a complete drongo, mate? There's no way that I would ever choose Miami Heat over the Lakers...I'm a real basketball fan, mate."

"I'm just saying that that isn't the same tune that you were singing last season when Miami was seven points ahead," Jack defended, raising his hands in front of him like small shields.

The light buzz that enveloped the diningroom of the Hudson apartment was the result of several hurried conversations taking place at once. Jack, Bobby, and Demetrius were arguing over the typical: a sports game from the previous night. Robby sat on Jack's lap, securely wrapped in his father's arms, gnawing on the only clean cloth napkin left on the table. Sue, Tara, Lucy, Donna, and Darcy had seemed to migrate to one end of the table after the meal was done, very engrossed in their discussions over different baby-raising tips. Myles sat to one side with his new wife, audibly discussing the insipid nature of programmed sports games when more important issues needed to be discussed with the public. And the loud screaming and laughing from the boys' bedroom made the noise in the apartment all the more lively.

"Actually, I like cloth diapers. It's less expensive and you can wash them over and over again...I just use a little soft cleaning products in the washing machine when I...," Sue was saying, just before being interrupted by Lucy tapping her on the shoulder to direct her attention to Bobby across the table.

"Sue, love," Bobby began teasingly when he had Sue's attention, slapping a hand on Jack's shoulder, as well. "I just have a quick messege from the Bureau. They want to know when you plan on going four months without having another little bugger."

"Oh," Sue replied, taking the bait. "You can just tell them that I'll stop having children when you start."

The bright smile and raised eyebrows on Sue's face told her everyone that she had effectively won the battle as the crowd gathered around the table roared with laughter. Bobby's face turned very red and for once the Aussie had no retaliation worth saying.

"When is your due-date, Sue?" Donna asked, touching her arm for Sue's attention.

"July 27," Sue answered with a smile and Jack felt the loving pride rise up in his chest again as he watched her glowing face.

"Hey!" Myles's wife, Laura, called with a smile, rising from her seat and moving to join the group of women at the end of the table. "That's my birthday!"

"Oh, no," Jack groaned as Myles's face lit up at his wife's declaration, halting Myles in his rise from the table for a speech. "Myles has already lectured us on how blessed the child would be if she were born on your birthday. No offense against you, of course, Laura...but, please, control your other half!"

"That's a pretty loud half to control," Demetrius and Lucy happened to say at the same time, causing everyone to laught loudly again, except Sue, until Jack signed what had taken place to her.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Sammy cried, running out of the bedroom and into the diningroom to cling to his father's suit. "Cara lie! Cara say Mommy pwetty mark a scwar!"

"It is scwar!" Cara argued, following Sammy out of the bedroom defensively.

The crowd became somewhat quiet at the interruption and Tara rose from her seat to try and silence her daughter.

"Sammy," Jack said carefully, pulling the toddler onto his lap beside little Robby. "It is a scar..."

Sue felt her face heat a little as eyes fell on the large vertical scar that traveled from her hairline to her jawbone, though she knew that they did not mean to be rude.

"It's her love scar," Jack finished in the silence, not feeling the slightest bit embarrassed in the presence of his friends...his family. "That scar shows just how much she loves all of us...and how much we all love her."

Sammy nodded with wide-eyed understanding and the children's arguement was over as quickly as it had begun and they were off again, calling Levi from his place underneath the table to play with them. However, the silence in the room remain, for a moment.

"So...," Bobby burst forth tactfully. "When do we get some of Sue's ice cream dessert?

"Now," Sue answered with a smile. "That is, if Sparky left some."

A/N: Again, thanks for reading. This was sort of a very difficult story to write, especially the last few chapters because I even felt kind of sick to the stomach while writing those ones with Sue's imprisonment.

I have a moral to this story that I hope everyone will take the time to appreciate. I only wish for all of the females out there to realize that the world can be a very bad place and rape and violent crimes do happen. Please be more careful and take the precautions that I was too stupid to take. Bad things happen all the time, even to those innocent ones, and caution should be a regular habit.

But please do not think that I'm trying to make the world sound horrible. The world and people are beautiful and wonderful, but there is also the shadowy parts of life that should always be looked out for.

Thank you and God bless!


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